Ice Age School Days
by Super Ninja Cupcakes
Summary: the insanity is over *frown* but i promise it'll b EPIC! warning: EXTREAMLY LONG CHAPTERS! ...except the first chapter, it's miniscuel in comparison... anywho, ENJOY!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Before too long, about six months of having moved to the ice age, Buck and I were picking Baby names. We found out I was pregers in Dinotopia when I go morning sickness for the third time in a row, plus, I was over three weeks late. Of course, he turned into Manny when Ellie was pregnant; smothering me, never let me out of his sight. I was flattered, but I didn't particularly like the fact that he wouldn't let me do a thing for myself.

It was a peaceful day in December; I got three seconds away from Buck, off to the river for a drink. Who I saw there just _made my day_. Cameron, you member, the guy I dated before Buck? Well, this guy has the nerve to sweep me off my feet, and start mauling me with kisses like a maniac! I was trying to get away from him, cussing and squirming and hitting him, but his grip was tight.

"Suzan!" I heard Buck yell, I pushed Cam's face far away from mine, and looked a Buck like, "Help me!"

Buck took immediate action; he ripped me away from Cameron and proceeded to give him a nice punch in the shnoz. After he did so, Cameron fell backwards, nose bleeding. Buck held me protectively as he yelled at Cameron, "Oi, what in the hell do you think you're doing? You bastard!"

Cam stood up and wiped his nose before saying, "The bitch owes me a first kiss." he chuckled. I would not have this! Hell no! You wanna know what I did? I walked right up to him and gave him a slap on the left cheek. When he didn't go down I changed tactics, I gave him a nice right hook to match the bloody nose!

"Like hell I do! And if you even think of getting up I'll feed you to Diego!" I screamed, Cameron moaned.

"Come on, before he's got the presents of mind to hurt you more." Buck said, pushing me in the direction of the herd's cave.

Once we got there, I was on the verge of a breakdown "Oh god, Buck, I'm so sorry!" I fell into his arms sobbing, the first time I'd done so since... I don't know when. "I couldn't do anything-"

"No, it's my fault," he caressed my cheek, "I should've been there, or left you with Diego or at least someone."

I smiled the smallest bit, "But I should've tried harder to get away," I kept on.

"Shhh, it's okay, he's gone now anyways." he did the heart-melter, which always made me feel better.

*LINE*

Mine was not a lucky pregnancy. I was looking forward to surprising my mother by going into the human world and telling her that her green-eyed girl was a mother-to-be, but I guess god had a different plan for us, because I had I miscarriage. All six kits, all gone weeks before I was due.

I cried, Buck cried, Ray even cried, even though (and I knew at the time, always did) Buck wasn't his favorite person in the whole wide world. Sid, who was looking forward to being an uncle again, was among the saddest of all of us. Sid went into a deep depression in the months that followed, as did Buck and I.

We "tried again" five months later, and Buck whooped and hollered when he found out that I was, once again, pregnant. Sid was ecstatic, and Ray seemed happy at first.

Well, it would have been all happy happy joy joy, if my results had _actually_ been positive. Now I was okay with this. Not in a happy way about it way, I just liked to know that I never even _was_ pregnant, that way there was no baby to miscarry. So then, I didn't have to go into suicidal depression like last time. Plus, I may not have wanted to be a mother just yet, I was only twenty-four. So maybe it was for the best; after all, it did turn out pretty well in the end anyways.

It was a beautiful day, two months after I found out I wasn't pregers, and I was walking through the mountain side with the rest of the herd. We all decided it in a spur-of-the-moment walk about the valley. Sid was the one who thought of it, Manny had said no, but I vouched for Sid. Of coarse, Manny had a soft spot for the once pregnant she-weasel. I wanted to go for a walk with the family, have fun, plus Ray. I invited him because we hadn't been able to see each other much anymore, plus, he was usually in the human world.

"Beautiful up here in the mountains isn't it?" I asked aloud, not referring to anybody in particular.

"Absolutely!" Sid was the one to answer.

"Isn't it though?" Ellie said dreamily.

"Yeah," I rested my head on Buck's shoulder for a moment, then lifted it back up, still holding his hand none-the-less. "Hey Sid, let's sing a song!" I suggested, Diego and the twins groaned, Manny looked irritated, but we still sang anyhow. We sang, _my happy song_, witch mostly consisted of us singing, "I am so damn happy cause there's only on of me!" over and over again. Although not very many of the herd wanted us to, Buck and Ellie seemed amused.

We may have sang a little too loudly, because as we sang the last few lines, an avalanche started. Rocks tumbled downhill towards us, Manny and Ellie took immediate action, they huddled around Peaches, trying to keep her safe. A gigantic boulder came my way, Buck came running towards me in a panic, and pushed me out of the way. Well, more tackled me and kept me close to his chest than pushed me. Sid was running around like a headless chicken, screaming and almost getting crushed. Diego was just about to get squashed by the boulders himself, (And I guess you could say that he _did_) but he leapt out of the way just in time to get away with nothing but a bloody and deformed hind leg. I screeched, pointlessly trying to hide my tears I got up and bolted over to the twins, who I grabbed and ran over to the other herd members with. Buck followed close behind me with Ray's arm in his right hand. Sid was crying like a baby, (I didn't blame him either) and Diego had passed out from pain. A sharp shard of stone flew from out of nowhere and scratched Sid on his chest, causing him passed out as well.

"Jesus Christ!" I yelled, staring at Sid's unmoving body. "God please save us." I whispered a small prayer under my breath, still crying. Manny was knocked out by a rock hitting him on the head. Ellie was still protecting her baby, and Ray was nowhere that I could see through the dust. "RAY!" I screamed, holding onto Crash and Eddie. Then, I saw it, something that I was sure would haunt me until the day I died, witch may have been soon… Buck was crushed by a rock. Shards came raining down like bombshells upon Crash, Eddie, Ellie, and me. Some hit Ellie, others hit Crash, one hit Eddie in the exact spot where his heart was. I screamed bloody murder, as one struck me in my abdomen. Hot sticky blood covered me, and the rest of the herd members.

"SUZAN!" Ray yelled, he had been crying, and still was.

"God, Ray, it hurts so bad." I said, whimpering. "Buck's gone, Ellie's gone, Sid, everyone!"

"Shhh, I can fix this, sleep, go ahead." Ray closed my eyelids for me, like they did on TV when somebody died with their eyes open.

"Ray, I'm dying." I said quietly, the pain was causing me to fall asleep. Was this sleep? Or was this deeper? It felt that way, deep, deeper than any coma, deeper than death.

"You will be okay, go on, go…" those were the last words I heard before I died. Yup, died, over, finished.

Before I died, though, I was able to murmur this: "I love you all."

*LINE*

I came to in a void; a black, hollow, void. Floating in mid-air, and then (once standing) I was on my feet, I couldn't tell if this was some I.D.C.A. trickery, or the blue horizon between our world and god's kingdom... or hell for that matter. Once I saw Ray, I ran to him, hearing every footstep, like the would be on frozen metal.

"Ray you jackass!" I half yelled, slugging him. "Why in the hell did you let me die like that?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down woman!" Ray insisted. "This is where the members of the I.D.C.A. go when they 'die'," (he made air-quotes with his fingers) "they get sent back to the human world. And since the herd died with you…"

"Shut up! Are you saying…?" I instigated.

"Yup." Ray gave a sharp nod.

"Thank the lord!" I danced like a drunk Irish girl and hugged Ray. "Hell ya! So where are they?" I asked, I noticed now that I was in my human form. I was wearing a yellow penny-T that had embroidered pink flowers at the hem, and saturated navy-blue skinny jeans. I noticed I was also wearing my mom's gold chain with a little gold Jesus at the end; his face, not him on the cross. As for my golden blonde (I call it that... it's more of a dishwater blonde) hair, it was loose, with a single small braid and a butterfly clip, I felt so girly. My shoes were at least not so lady-like, converse, sweet, sweet converse.

"Over there." Ray pointed off in the distance of the void, there I saw a group of human figures, six of witch were children, two of witch were adults. They were all lying down, sleeping.

The ones that I presumed to be Crash and Eddie were huddled together, as they were when they were "killed". They had chocolate-colored hair, and the one I guessed was Eddie had freckles. They were pretty short, but then again, I didn't know how old they were yet. The boys were wearing red t-shirts and black running pants, with (not any name-brand) sneakers. They had a tan, but seemed to have Irish in them in a way I couldn't describe.

The one I figured was Sid was tallish, skinnier than I figured he'd be, with a reasonable length of shaggy, yet thin, jet-black hair, and pale skin.(Maybe he was Norwegian, I don't know) He was wearing a green t-shirt and jeans, with black sketchers.

The adults (who were Manny and Ellie) wore black around-the-house shirts and blue jeans, (Ellie wore khakis) and Manny had a brown leather jacket. They also wore native-American style gray slippers. Ellie had red hair, (a short-cut pixie) and she was tall, athletic sized. Manny had dark, dark brown hair, almost black, and he was "Good sized" or… poofy, like a guy I know named Ed.

The one in the middle of them was little Peaches, in a white cotton-dress with brown flats, it was easy to tell she was very young, six maybe? As for her looks, just like her mother (in Sid's words: thank goodness!) same hair and everything, but with bigger eyes, (I could tell even with them closed) and freckles.

The last two I could tell apart no-problem. The taller one was Diego, he dwarfed all the other kids, including me, and he had butterscotch hair. He had muscular shoulders, a defined chin, and he looked like the kind of guy who would play a lot of sports. He wore a solid light gray t-shirt and ripped up blue jeans, with blue DC shoes.

Last but certainly not least, Buck. He was about four inches taller than me, (I shall never reveal my height, mwahahah!) so he was 5 feet nine inches. (I lied ^^) he wore a black and white checkered over-shirt with a white one underneath it. He had what I believed to be wrangler jeans on, I couldn't see the logo, and converse (Sweet, sweet converse!), as for his patch, it had been replaced by a black velvet one, he also had a gold hoop in his left ear. I blushed a little, he was even more handsome as a human than I'd imagined... and trust me, I'd done my fair share of imagining that.

Ray and I began waking them up, I woke Buck up first. Naturally, they were all freaking out, so I told them all to sit down, and we'd explain the whole thing to them.

And so we did, Ray gave them the choice weather to die now, or live in the "future" with me and my family in North Dakota. They all said yes right away. And don't ask me how, cause I couldn't tell ya; but suddenly, we were at my house. I was surprised to find out that it had only been one month in the human world, so I was still just thirteen in my human form. We'd also moved into a new house instead of a camper.

Ray explained how the whole "knowledge helmet" thing worked to the herd, and they got all the knowledge that they needed to be at their level. Crash and Eddie were twelve and a three quarters, Sid had just turned thirteen in September, Diego was Thirteen and two months, he was still in Seventh grade because his birthday is all screwy, and Buck turned thirteen three days before me. Manny and Ellie were thirty-eight, and Peaches was eight. They all got the appropriate skills to be proficient, and the adults had enough schooling in their noggins to get them jobs at tobacco gardens, and MGM enterprises. (P.S. my mum works at MGM, they did not pay me to advertise!) we got them a house in town, a gray five-bedroom with a garage and a nice basement. There was just enough room for all of them in the schools, (that was a relief) and just enough realness in their fake alibis, birth certificates, adoption papers, etcetera. We got, by some magic of the I.D.C.A., them into the systems of the American government. (And Buck insisted he keep his accent, so we had to get him into the English government, along with immigration papers for him and his dead parents. And that's another thing, certificates of death!)

It took a few days to get the herd situated in their new home, and in that time, I was able to spend a lifetime's worth of time with Buck. We went to the movies, to the river, the wheat fields, he had never stood in a field of wheat before, it was the first time I'd ever stood in a wheat field too. It was even better than my nana described it, I guess it was because I was with someone I loved.

The only thing I could possibly worry about was how the kids at school would react, and if the girls would try to move in on Buck. If that were to happen, there would be some screaming, and blood on my shirt. I imagined going home and telling my mom that some girl was hitting on buck, and I told them to go screw a donkey. She would point out the blood stain on my shirt, and I'd say, "It's not mine it's Missy's." I smiled at the thought of giving Missy a bloody nose; I guess that makes me sort of hateful, but at least I didn't do my evil laugh… tehehe tehehe tehehe! ^^

(Author's note)

Anyway, that's how It all started up, the rest of the memorable occasions will be documented in this book, and others, starting next chapter! Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

11/3

Today pretty much sucked ass. I'm not kidding, let me start at home room…

"Okay," I started, standing at the top of the stairs, giving the herd members their pre-school-day pep talk, "You all remember your alias names?" everyone repeated their names. (Sid: Ricky, Crash: Cranston, Eddie: Eddie, Buck: Barrett (after my paternal cousin, and for lack of a better one), Diego: Diego) they were all in the same grade as me and Ray, accept Peaches, who was eight, she went to the elementary school. All who were our age either had a class with me, or Ray, so they could be helped out any time they got confused with any human stuff.

"Okay, you guys know how humans behave?" I asked in a hushed tone, not audible to the security cams. They all nodded, "Okay, first we go to home room, Misses Shu. You all remember what to say when she asks to tell us about yourselves?" they all nodded, Crash and Eddie tittered to themselves. "Okay, got your books?" as if I had to ask, "Well, follow me then." with that we set off towards misses Shu's room, just around the corner.

When we got there, Misses Shu was the first to introduce herself, happy, nice, as usual. Buck sat in the desk next to mine, sweating and fidgeting with his books. Sid sat in front of me, and the twins sat on the couch in the back.

Buck leaned close to me, "I feel like people are staring at me," he confided in a whisper, "Do you think it's the patch?" Buck had darker reddish-brown shaggy hair, (half covering his black eye patch) and what some would call, "Defined" canine teeth. He also had a single crystal blue eye. If anyone were to ask about his eye, he would say he got got by his cat.

"Don't worry, you're just new, people are staring a Ricky too, and the twins." I reassured him. We were the only people amongst a few. Sienna Coldwell was there, along with Megan Dekker, plus some of the boys, "Besides, it's just an eye patch. It's not like you turn ten shades of red and snort when you laugh." I joked.

"I love your laugh Suzy cue." Buck said sweetly.

"Oh, I see how it is," from a seemingly pissed off Megan, "Don't return my text messages and then don't introduce me to your new BF? How's that supposed to work?" she said, finally laughing, then she hugged me. "So who's this hunk?" she asked, gesturing to buck, she was on his left side, she hadn't yet seen his patch.

"This hunk is Barrett. He's taken, so don't get any ideas." I said in a half playful, half warning tone, Buck turned toward her.

"Oh, I see. You already have a boyfriend? I thought you were against pre-fourteen-years-of-age-dating." Megan inquired, looking confused, but still smiled, none the less.

"Yes, then I remembered my old best-mate Barrett, who I am now dating." I explained.

"Your best what?" she asked, looking even more confused.

"Oh yeah, Barrett, say something." I said.

"Like what?" from Buck.

"Like, introduce yourself or something like that." I returned.

"Oh, well hello, I'm Barrett" He shrugged, "I moved to the U.S. four years ago, and my parents died three years ago. That same year I met Suzy cue's family, who introduced me to Manfred and Ellen. After that they adopted me… Manfred and Ellen." he added quickly, "And I just moved here, along with Ricky, Diego, Cranston, And Eddie." Buck finished with a grin.

"Oh, I see now, he's English!" Megan said blondly.

"No shit?" I said, almost irritated. (In case you were wondering, yes this is the same Megan Dekker from the other story, she just had to play along so nobody would get wise.)

After the second bell, we took attendance, everyone was here today. Misses Shu decided it would be fun for us to do the, "Stand up and say your name and something special about yourself" thing for he other classmates. The new guys had to stand up and say where they were from, their name, and in this case, their life story.

Crash and Eddie were apparently orphans from Montana, and got fostered and adopted by Manfred and Ellen (Manny and Ellie). Sid was sort of a rescue; found at an orphanage at age three, abandoned by his family… does that sound familiar? Anyhow, Diego was evidently found on their doorstep, they got the papers signed and kept him. Buck told his story last, his parents died of a weird disease that they weren't vaccinated for.

Before poor Buck could get out of the hot-seat, the short Adrian asked about his eye patch, "Hey, dude, what happened to your face?"

Buck turned pale white, why was he so insecure all of a sudden? He was mister confidence in the ice age, "The eye or the rest of it?" He joked, "Well, see, I met the business end of my cat's claws." he pointed to his patch, "Horrible idea to shoot a cat with a water gun." then sat down before anybody could ask anything else. Some laughed at the joke, others, mainly girls, were all "Does it hurt?" or "You poor thing!" or something like that. He didn't pay much attention to the girls though.

After third period, Buck, Crash, Eddie, Sid, Diego, and I all grouped together for lunch. None of them had ever done this before, when the lady asked what was up with them, I would say, "They've been home schooled their whole lives."

We all sat at a table far away from everyone else's, so we could discuss our days so far. I had Geo with Buck, Sid, and Diego. Then I had English with Sid, Crash, and Eddie. Then I had study hall with Buck and Diego. We were all eating pizza and discussing how the day was going.

"So what's with all these blonde headed mean girls?" Sid had asked.

"Hell if I know, Ricky, hell if I know. I usually ignore them, or talk shit. That is always a good way to deal with bullies." I answered, taking a bite of my pizza square. "So how about it D? liking it so far?" I inquired.

"I think it's pretty cool here." Diego returned. He was obviously turned into a cool-ish Indie kid when he got his mind-helmet session. That, or he had really done his homework on kid-speak.

"Cranston? Eddie? Thoughts?" I turned to the twins.

"Awesome!" The two said in unison.

"Cool." I said happily, I turned to Buck, who was beside me with his arm around my shoulders, "How about you Barrett?" I winked, "How did second period go for you?"

Buck didn't look too happy, "Well, I still feel like people are staring at me…" he gestured with his head towards a group of kids who were whispering and looking at him. Along with his teeth, and sense of smell, Buck still had his weasel hearing.

"Why do you care?" I asked, almost irritated at him, "You were all confidence and an eye patch yesterday, then you come here and it's all insecurity."

"Well I haven't had to be a kit in so long." Buck returned in a whiny-defensive tone, "And when I was, kids were…" he trailed off.

"Oh, I get it," I rested my head on his shoulder, "The same thing has happened to me before. And anyways, they're probably talking about how lucky I am to have snatched up a hunk like you." Buck almost gave me a kiss, but I pressed my hand against his puckering lips, "Nuh-uh, not in school mister, they have rules about that." Buck looked at me weird, then just shrugged it off and continued eating.

"So where do me and Cra-" Eddie stopped himself at that sentence, I bet he was about to say Crash, "Cranston, go after this?"

"You two go to art with Ray and S-, Ricky." I corrected myself.

"Hey, room for one more? Not!" the witch laughed, walking by our table with her little blonde-headed demon group. Okay, this is someone who, let's not be rude and say, I do not particularly like. I will call her missy, witch rhymes with prissy, cause that's what she is. Her real name will not be revealed.

"Okay... what the hell was that?" Diego asked, once Missy walked away.

"You mean the pieces of trash? Or what they said?" I said sarcastically, so much for being polite.

"Both!" Crash and Eddie said at the same time.

"Well those bitches, my dear friends, are the Christas of the human world. Stay away! I warn you, unless you want your other eye scratched from your face by yet _another_ cat, Barrett"

"You don't need to tell _me_ twice!" Ray said from behind us.

"Then I won't. You gonna sit with us or what else?" I asked.

"I gotta-" Ray lowered his voice, "I gotta do some spying, I'll meet you guys after school at the bus stop, we'll talk then. In any other case I'll see you two in art class." he looked at Crash and Eddie, then excused himself.

"Okay…" I said, "I bet he just wants to sit with Megan!" I said in a teasing sing-song tone, where Ray could hear, and winking at everyone present.

"Hardy har har." Ray said bitterly over his shoulder as he rolled away in his chair. I guess he wasn't impressed by my smartassery.

"Asia!" two voices said in unison.

"Tina? Cassie?" I turned around, making Buck take his arm from around my shoulders.

"Can we shout at ya for a sec?" Tina asked, gesturing to the spot over by the brick beam.

"Sure, I'll be right back you guys." I told the male herd members, who all nodded, or shrugged, or said something inaudible.

Once we were over at the beam, the girls got right down to business. They told me they knew I didn't really have Monnow, that they too were I.D.C.A. members, but they were retired, and they wanted to know if those guys were the ones from Ice Age. I thought of lying, but then again, they were my friends.

"So is that cute one Buck?" Cassie asked, I shushed her.

"Hush up! We're in public!" I yell/whispered. "Yes, but his alias name is Barrett, and Sid's name is Ricky, the twins are Cranston and Eddie/Edward, and Diego is still Diego." I explained.

"How ever did you come up with that name? _Barrett?_" Cassie asked.

"I got I cousin with that name." I answered.

"Oh my gosh! S- I mean, Ricky is sooo cute!" Tina squealed, she had a enormous crush on Sid, even when he was just in the movie.

Diego burst out laughing, our table was just a little ways from where we were, but his hearing was still better than any normal human being. "Okay, I'm sorry, I heard that. Sorry Tina!" Diego waved an apology, wiping a tear out of his eye and catching his breath.

Tina's face turned as red as her Reba McIntyre hair, (it was died that way) and she waved nervously, Sid winked, witch didn't help one little bit. Tina slugged me on the arm, hard, "Why didn't you tell me they could still hear as good as if they were animals?" she yell/whispered at me.

"Well _excuse_ me!" I returned, "Anyways, I think he's got art with you."

"Really?" she asked, then jumped up and down and clapped, that reminded me of Sophie.

"I think so, you'll have to ask Ray." I answered shortly.

"Ray's here?" Cassie asked, looking shocked.

"Yep." the bell rang, "Shit, sorry g2g catch y'all later!" with that I excused myself to go to my locker with the guys.

*LINE*

Sixth period was gym, I was happy to see that I did in fact have this class with Buck. Also Sid, Diego, and Ray .

When I was in the locker room, my fantasy of giving a bloody nose to one of the Missys was tempting to become a reality. I was getting on my red gym shorts and shirt, when I heard a few of Missy's pack talking about the herd members.

"Who is _absolutely_ sure that they'll get a kiss from Barret? Not!" one of them said. Okay, was that the only joke they knew? I raised my hand, then continued tying my shoe. "As if!" the same one said.

"Actually," I started in my best I'm-better-than-you-smarty-pants tone, "He's _my_ boyfriend, ask any of his brothers." This was sooo a repeat of the day I pretended to be Buck's girlfriend to save him from the _actual_ Christa, only this time, it was true! That made it all the sweeter to see their shocked-to-death faces.

"Well maybe somebody should ask Ricky!" the Missy who said that did a bad impression of hi lisp, and made a duh face.

"The real hottie is that one with the butterscotch hair." another one said.

"He's dating Megan McIntyre." I said quickly.

None of them paid me any attention, they just continued giggling and chattering about the boys. One of them said Buck looked like Jack Sparrow on crack, another suggested Sid had some kind of a mental dysfunction. I finally broke when somebody questioned Sid's sexuality. "He's definitely gay!" she accused.

"Shut your face!" I yelled, "It's none of your business in the first place, and he is not gay! Barrett's eye patch is a minor flaw, get used to it! And Ricky is not retarded! His lisp is a medical condition! You should all be ashamed of yourselves!" with that, I stormed out, my face as red as my gym clothes.

(Ray: I Need to tell something! Asia: NO! Ray: Yes! ^^ Asia: Oh fine)

We were all in the Locker room, most of us were already dressed, just talking. Or in this case, listening to Suzan yell and Scream. Then we all heard her say Sid wasn't gay. Sid turned pale white, whiter than before, then he excused himself.

Somebody called, "Hey Rick, where ya going?" he paid no attention. Then we heard angry stomping on the stage area above the locker rooms.

"Oooo! Kitten fight, meow!" an unnamed person said. And he clawed the air.

A couple guys laughed, Buck uttered a low growl and cursed a bit under his breath. We heard whimpering and the footsteps stopped, that's when Buck excused himself. We all listened, and I could tell Buck was trying to calm her down, but only Diego could hear, cause they were whispering.

(Asia: Now I tell it!)

After I ran up the stairs, I stomped around the stage area, seeing Sid running out of the gymnasium. He must've heard us girls talking. Did Diego know he was the shower-room fodder? Did buck hear that part about his eye patch? Was Sid crying in the boys bathroom, praying for this day to end? If he was, I would feel terrible. I sat down for a second, and just started crying, why the hell should I care if anyone saw? I know I sure didn't at that moment. Buck came up, sort of getting tangled up in the curtains, but still getting to me just fine.

"Well what was all that about?" he asked, sitting cross-legged right next to me.

"It was horrible! How can people be so mean? So cruel?" I said, looking up at Buck.

He wrapped an arm around me, "Don't worry love, it'll be okay." Buck reassured me, "Now can I see that pretty face smile?" he lifted up my chin and kissed me, I didn't give a crap about the school rules right then.

I smiled, "Thanks," I hugged him, "Now we gotta go find Ricky."

So we found Sid just in time for the gym teacher to take attendance and introduce herself to Sid, Diego, and Buck. She explained the rules of dodge-ball to us the hundredth time over again, an then picked team captains, I got chosen and then Megan Dekker. I chose Sid first, then Megan Chose Ray, I chose Buck, Megan chose Eric. It went on like that until we came down to the last few people, then we started playing. About two seconds into the game people were aiming for Sid, they'd get some fuss from me later. Half way in, Brittany Wilson threw one at Buck, it hit his eye patch.

Buck was on the ground, groaning, with both hands over his now injured eye socket. "Oh fuck!" somebody yelled, fluid was coming out. Holey shit… Brittany has one hell of arm.

Buck was rushed to the emergency room, and Sid passed out. Me and Diego rode in the ambulance with him, I held his hand whilst Diego talked to him, and the paramedics did their thing. It turns out the whole thing wasn't all that terrible; his right tear duct just went screwy for a second. We went back to school and got out of half of seventh hour, Science. I had to make some stuff up, and Buck and the twins got set up with their books and such. Buck got sat in the empty desk that separated Missy and I, witch I was grateful for.

On the bus ride to my house, Sid got the whole bus singing, "_I'm walking on sunshine"_ it was hilarious, especially when I saw the irritated look on one of the Missys' face! Sweet, sweet happiness. After like, two people got off, including my friend Nicky. Buck sat next to me, Diego sat next to Ray, Crash and Eddie sat with each other and tittered to themselves, and Tina sat with Sid; they were talking about music or something. I held Buck's hand wile we listened to my mp3 player, and (for me) Tina and Sid. When our song (_Never Alone _by lady Antebellum) played, I rested my head on his shoulder and sort of dosed off.

11/5

today was decided to be the bike without training wheals. I would go to Jayden's place, and be strictly off the phone, so I couldn't text Buck. I protested that I should at least be able to talk to him. That Jayden knew about the I.D.C.A., and I should be able to converse with my boyfriend, but it was "in my best interest". So anyways, I wasn't allowed a phone. All we did was watch ghost adventures and drink pop. Until we decided to go up and check to see if the hot but water was hot yet.

We went up the stairs with our soda cans in hand, and giggling about our fan fictions, Jayden was writing one about the leader, Zak. We walked out onto the unfinished deck, and felt the water, it was nowhere near hot. Suddenly, we heard a strange noise coming from the middle of the backyard, we ran for it, I was sweating and J.J. was squealing a little bit. Jayden locked the sliding glass door behind us, I ran ten feet into the living room and started praying. I was probably just doing that because I was scared witless. As we walked downstairs, J.J. kept saying how weird it was, and I kept telling her not to walk so fast, or she would fall and decapitate herself.

"You're not helping!" she scolded.

"Shut up! I'm scared too!" I returned, sitting down on the bean bag on the her bed, we'd set up a kind of sanctuary from our brothers.

Our little game with the "demons" went on almost all night, J.J. said she couldn't fall asleep, but she did like, _six_ minutes after saying that. I knew I couldn't fall asleep, not because I was afraid of ghost or whatever, I was just thinking about Buck. Then the thought hit me, my amulet! Duh! I could use it to get my phone from wherever the hell it was! I did, I got my phone and texted Buck, "Hey what's up?" it took him a while to answer because he'd never done it, he did know the alphabet though, so he was getting used to it. He talked to me about how he missed me, and he couldn't get used to all those covers, or the smell of that peach scentsy Ellie insisted the whole family get. I told him about the scare we had with the "ghost" and he said not to worry, just to fall asleep knowing he was thinking of me. I felt better about the whole scare thing after he told me that.

I am up right now and it's like, two in the morning, so I guess I'll go to sleep, but first I'll need to put my phone back. So what I'll do is -I WILL delete the messages first! I am not retarded!- just send it back wherever it was. I just can't wait for tomorrow, Jayden gets to meat the gang, and I get to see them again.

11/6

This morning Jayden and I went out to the hot tub and sat there for a while. I was sooo cold because it had snowed, and I had on my skimpy bikini that I got from Zaygen. We had a good time until my brother decided he wanted to join in. he kept on splashing us and going under the water to grab our ankles. Anyways, in the middle of our little hot tub party, Anthony went back inside for English muffins. He could not have had better timing, because not two minutes later, Ray's steak-out van came our way.

Ray got out and somebody, who I thought was Ben for a second (It wasn't though.) helped him up the stairs to the front door, carrying his chair in his free arm. Roxie, Jayden's mother, answered it, "Hello, can I help you two?" she asked. We could see her from the hot tub; we could see and hear it all through the partly open glass doors.

"Hello ma'am, are Jayden and Asia here?" Ray asked.

"Yes, one moment." Roxie turned our way, "Jayden, Asia, get your butts in here!" she laughed a little, then invited the guys to go see us.

When I realized who it actually was I turned to Jayden, she knew what to do, "Ray!" she said, then I said, "Diego!" then we said at the same time, "My bad mammal jammals!"

"Hello, ladies." Ray said, rolling out to us.

"What's up Suzan? And this is…?" Diego said.

"Jayden." I answered shortly, "She knows about the," I lowered my voice, "I.D.C.A., so you don't have to lie to her." I explained, "Just her brother, and mine. So, where's the rest of the gang?"

"They're in the van, your mom's driving. We're taking you two to Williston to Walmart, 'cause you promised to show us that cool bike move." Ray said, "Jayden?" he grinned slyly.

"I don't know, maybe you guys should just stay here with us for a while, we could rent a movie or something." J.J. suggested.

"Chicken?" Ray challenged.

"Screw off! Come on, bring the rest of the guys in and we'll go in a minute." Jayden said, "You are sooo lucky I don't want to hit a cripple." she climbed out of the hot tub, me following close behind.

"New wheels huh? Twelve inch rims." I inquired, Ray seemed to have gotten a new wheelchair in the last day or two.

"That's how I roll y'all." Ray bobbed his head up and down.

We got on our towels immediately and walked into the living room whilst Diego waved the other guys inside. J.J. told me to come downstairs with her, and we'd do our makeup. So we went down to her room and got dressed, I wore my tight-fitting butterfly t-shirt and some skinny jeans and my silver cross. Jayden insisted that I leave my hair down, I tried to tell her no, but she said I looked better with it down, so I forgot about arguing. She put on some light brown eye shadow, I wore none, and some lip gloss. I added some mascara and eyeliner. J.J. told me I should wear more stuff, but I told her I didn't want to look like a hooker. After all, I _am_ only thirteen.

Once we got upstairs, Jayden gave the gang a once-over and said hi. I said hi to everyone, then sat down next to Buck.

"Hello love, how was your day yesterday?" Buck asked.

"Great, and yours?" I returned, there was no hope of awkwardness, because everyone had somebody to talk to until the time came for us to leave. Jayden was a social butterfly, she talked to everyone.

"Wonderful, I missed _you_ though." he answered.

"Oh, good, because I missed you too." I said with a fake relieved sigh.

Buck laughed. We all talked a little after that, then got started out the door. I was sooo proud when I saw witch shoes were Buck's, he had converse, the twins had cowboy boots (Also pride inducing ^^), Sid had black snow boots, (even though the snow wasn't all that deep yet) and Diego had high-tops of some kind.

We all piled into the big gray van, it was more spacious than I figured, enough to comfortably seat ten, plus the space for Ray's chair in the back. Come to think of it, this was more of a bus than a van, a large van or a small bus.

We listened to the radio and talked most of the way, but Jayden's phone kept going off. Whenever J.J. gets a text message, it goes, "Come get a big hunk o' steak over there, call Twain House, get your free t-shirt, god damn!" we had it recorded from a you tube vlog. Sid got the entire van singing 'Pumped up kicks' and we all laughed at how our voices cracked.

We had fun teaching the guys how to play eye-spy, until Ray decided to be a jerk-off, "Okay, I spy something small." Crash said.

"Lemmie take a wild guess." Ray grinned.

"Shut up!" Crash was red, not angry, horribly embarrassed.

"Not cool," I said, trying to muffle my giggles.

"Knock it off." my mom said, also trying not to laugh.

"Funny, funny, shut up." Eddie said flatly, like on Billy Madison.

"Okay, game over." I said, I smelled a cat-fight.

"We're almost there anyways." mom reported.

We went to Walmart, not aiming to find anything but a bike. I held the camera whilst J.J. did her bike move. Ray high-fived Jayden, then totally trumped her move with one of his own. I filmed him putting on the Barbie doll helmet we all dared him to wear, then he did some cool things with his chair, like putting it on the two back wheels and spinning. He ended with a thumbs-up and his signature, "YA!" but it sounds more like, "Yee!" he fell backwards, (unharmed) but I kept on filming.

"I can't feel my legs! …oh wait," Ray laughed, dropping his head on the ground. He has a good sense of humor when it comes to that kind of thing. Diego helped him up, that was going on you tube for sure.

We split up after Walmart. Roxie took me and Jayden to see paranormal activity three, then we drove home. And man did we, it took us two hours because of the ice on the roads. We saw up to six wrecks that _I _counted. We listened to quiet music, and I texted mom with J.J.'s cell phone. By the way, Jayden, your phone is hell to text with! We got to Mathew's place, where I was dropped off, expecting to see the rest of the guys. Mathew works at MGM with my mom, he's a friend of hers. I walked in to happy, quiet people greeting me. I kicked off my converse next to the door, and sat down in the green chair near the window. Buck sat (Sleeping) right next to the chair, the twins were on the couch with my brother, and Diego was sitting in the near kitchen with my mom.

"Hey guys." I whispered, waving at everyone. Mom mimicked my smile like she always did, and waved.

"How was the movie Asia?" Anthony asked loudly, mom hushed him and reminded him for (What her tone reveled to be) the millionth time that Mathew was on the phone in the other room.

To be perfectly honest, the movie sucked, but I wasn't one to be a kill-joy, "It was fine." I noticed Buck was snoring, "How long has he been out for?" I asked.

"A while, P- Emily fell asleep watching the travel channel with us." Diego explained, Emily was Peaches' human name, if anybody asked, Peaches was her nick-name.

"Oh, I see." I said in a hushed tone.

"We should go soon. Wake Barrett up, then start the truck." mom said.

"Okay, Bu-" mom cut me off by coughing, I guess I had to call him Barrett in front of Mathew and Royce. "Barrett, Barrett, wake up." I shook buck awake, and he rubbed his eyes, then gave me a kiss. "Yuck, I had no idea it was possible to have morning breath at nine o'clock at night." I joked.

Buck checked his breath, then shrugged, "So, are we leaving yet?" he stretched and cracked his spine.

"Yep." I answered, "We're leaving now."

"You gotta start the truck first Asia." mom reminded me.

"I'll do it, Crystal." Diego offered.

"You don't know how, I'll do it." I said. I put my jacket and shoes on, and walked outside to start the truck. While I put the key in the ignition, I wondered how we'd fit everyone in. Peaches could sit on Diego's lap, but what about Anthony? He and the twins could squeeze in the back with Peaches, then me, Buck, and Diego could sit on the bench seat in the front, but what about Sid? I don't know, we'd figure it out.

We did figure it out, Me partly on Buck's lap in the front, Peaches on Diego's lap in the front, Sid alone in the front. The remaining three sat in the back. We took the back-roads to my house, we decided the guys would be couch free-loaders tonight because of the icy roads.

Buck slept on the back of our couch, Diego slept on the main part of it. Sid got the audomen, and the twins shared the chair-and-a-half the same way Buck and Diego shared the couch. Crash sucked his thumb, and Eddie snored, Peaches slept in my mom's room. We called Manny and Ellie to tell them we would be keeping the kids tonight; they were happy to know we still had them, and they weren't on the moon or something

11/7

I was totally horrified when I heard we had dodge-ball again, an Sid was just plain and simple white as a sheep! Ray was happy though, he liked playing dodge-ball. Most people think that just because Ray has a disability, he can't play sports, but oh contraire Manfred! Ray doesn't give a shitwhat anybody thinks, he just throws on a mussel-shirt and does whatever we all are doing, he especially enjoys basket-ball. Anyways, I just didn't want anybody to go to the hospital this time. There was absolutely no danger of that, we switched to the wimpy dodge-balls instead of the red rubber ones. This time, however, Buck and Brittany were on the same team.

I didn't get out once, but Megan Dekker got pegged right in the face at least three times. Buck wanted to make her feel better, so he jogged over to her while we were switching court sides and told her, "Hey Meg, imagine that times like…. Five hundred… And six." he pointed to his eye patch and grinned. Megan laughed and got back out on the court after that. Once the bell rang, I was actually _scared_ to go into the locker room, what if this time I _did_ give some dumb bitch a bloody nose? Then where would I be? In a month of detention, that's where. I didn't if that's your instigation, I was good.

"Diego is sooo hot!" one girl said.

"I heard he's dating Megan McIntyre!" another said in a whining coo.

"Didn't she move?" another asked.

"Nope, she's just on a trip, she'll be back soon." I said, not even looking up from tying my shoe.

"I think she did move." one said.

"_I think," _I started "That I should know better than anybody else, seeing as _she_ told me, and calls me all the time. In fact, she called last night."

Nobody argued, but a few gave me dirty looks, one in particular gave me a face I almost couldn't stand! Her face gets all scrunched up and she raises an eyebrow. But anyways, I didn't care, they can think what they want about me. But if anybody ever says anything to or about _my_ friends, it may result in a, "problem" witch is a very nice way to say ass kicking. I didn't though, as I stated. I just left and met up with Buck, Sid, Diego, and Ray.

I was horribly disappointed when my science teacher sat me right next to this member of the Missys, the leader. Thankfully, she had a basket-ball game or something, so she missed seventh period. Another good point is, Buck and Diego are in the same class as me. Plus, my friend Nichole sits at the table next to mine.

11-9

Well the missy I was saddled with wasn't here today, but I'm not complaining. Gym was a piece of cake, we had a lesson on this weird game who's name I couldn't remember to save my life. Well, all in all today was normal, besides when I got called to the office. When I got there I saw a paint splattered pair of twin tornadoes, they got sent home early. And I tell you what son, Ellie was not amused, not one little bit. I'm sure more memorable things will happen tomorrow, because we've got to plan for a trip to Gillette Wyoming for the weekend.

11-10

Today was stressful, I had all this geography and stuff to do and no time to do it. What's worse is, today was the first day with the beast in science. I tried to not look her way, and ignore her staring me down, but it was really hard.

We all were happy to find out that everyone, including Ray, would be staying the night at my place so we could just up and leave the next day for Gillette. The guys would take the living room, Ellie and mom would be in her room, and Peaces would be in my room. That's what we decided. Anyhow, we all got on the bus and went to my house, we watched bee movie and I made snacks. Mom was home late, she had herons to run, and so I fed everyone but Manny and Ellie, who also weren't there yet.

I used to live in Gillette, and contrary to popular belief, not everybody there has a drug-dealer or bookie's number on speed-dial. We'll all stay at Ann's place, well, me and my brother will. As for the rest of the gang, Ben (You remember Ben right? Blonde, tone-deaf, captain duh?) had a place there, I didn't think he was allowed by law to be alone. Maybe he was an orphan and the I.D.C.A. took him in, I don't know. Anyways, we all watched the ice age sierese, it was fun to watch the guys' expressions at some of the scenes.

We got a new tradition going today. Every Friday, or whenever the school week ended, we all form a train and brush each other's hair. Sounds weird huh? Well it all started when Peaches wanted me to brush her hair while she did her doll's, then Sid suggested all the guys join in. this is our organization: Peaches on the foot stool in front of me (at the far end of the couch from the kitchen, going that way from there), Buck was next, brushed by Sid. Next was Diego, Brushed by Ray. Then the twins, (Eddie, then Crash) brushed by Anthony, who at this point had to sit in a chair facing the couch. We agreed that we needed to do this all the time. The adults returned not too long into our little hair-brushing train, and joined us, putting some of us out on the floor. I handled the music so we could listen to something whilst we worked. After a while, the little tike fell asleep, so we dispersed. I carried her into my room easily (thank god she had her mothers(human version) body type!) and tucked her into bed.

I bet something will happen tomorrow, we got a whole day by ourselves. Then the next day Hailee gets to meet the gang, she'd be Sophie if Sophie was a human, minis the anorexia.

11-11

We haven't done much today, the adults had to go to work today, so we're leaving tomorrow. We all did some chores and stuff, and I introduced the gang to our neighbors, the Zimmermans.

We knocked on their door around noon thirty plus nine, Jasmine answered the door. Jasmine is in a class or two with me, so I know her pretty well.

"Hey Asia, what's up?" she said upon answering.

"I don't know if you've met my homies yet, so I wanted to introduce you. This is Barrett, Cranston, Edward, Emily, Diego, Ray, and Ricky." I pointed at each one when I said their names.

"Oh yeah, I've met Cranston and Edward. They tripped ****** in the hallway, it was hilarious!" Jasmine high-fived the twins. (I bleeped the name)

"Yeah it was!" Ray chimed in.

"Oh, and of course I've met Raymon! He's in our phy ed. class isn't he?" Jasmine asked.

"Yes he is." Ray answered.

"Hey, new chair?" Jasmine returned.

"Twelve inch rims y'all." Ray answered.

"Cool. Well I've never met these three hunks, or this little sweetheart."

"Name's Diego friend." Diego introduced himself with a smile. I nearly laughed at the private ice age jokes.

"Barrett, pleased to meat your acquaintance." Buck shook Jasmine's hand vigorously.

" …I'm Ricky." Sid said, lacking anything better to say.

"I'm Emily!" Peaches chirped.

"Oh! She's sooo cute! And I know you guys, you're in our gym class too. Diego, let's clear something up real quick, are you dating Megan Dekker?" Jasmine asked.

Diego was red, "No, that's Ray. I'm dating Megan McIntyre."

"Oh, I see. And how about you Barrett?"

"Suzy cue." damn it! I never told them my real name! Duh!

"Who?" Jasmine asked, making a weird face. Buck pointed to me, I smiled nervously. "Why do you guys call her Suzy anyways?"

"Well, you see, my nick-name is Suzy home-maker, so they call me Suzan. Beret calls me Suzy cue exclusively." I explained.

"Oh, I get it." Jasmine said knowingly.

"Well so sorry to bother you, we're gonna go." I decided for us, it was cold out and I needed to get the clothes out of the dryer. We left and went back to my house after that.

"Okay, how about we go somewhere." Ray suggested.

"Like where?" I asked, almost skeptically. We couldn't go anywhere, we couldn't drive, and it was too cold to do anything.

"Like, anywhere." he showed us his yellow magic necklace.

"Oh, I get it now." I said, nodding, "What about Myrdal beach south Carolina? My aunt Tacey lives there. Or we could go to Nashville! See the country music hall of fame!" I suggested.

l

"I like the beach idea." Ray said. "I got more mobility in the water... well not really, but I still like the beach."

"Cool, let's go." I said, "I'll call mom." well I called mom and told her we were all going to the beach, she said not to forget the sunscreen.

Well here's our beach day for ya, Diego wouldn't go anyplace near the water to save his life, Peaches made a sandcastle, Sid buried Diego in the sand near the water, witch pissed him off big time. Ray spent a lot of time with Diego. The twins surfed, biffed it, and Eddie nearly drowned. I read _The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder _under an umbrella, wearing Buck's over shirt over my Bikini top, and watched Peaches while she gathered sea shells. Buck sat with me a while, I found that sweet, before going to Surf with the twins. I got some pretty sweet pictures of him doing some cool moves, and getting scared witless by a dolphin. P.S., YOU TUBE! He needed to wash out his eye socket after though, since there was salt in the ocean and he might have gotten an infection.

We came home an hour before we were expected, because of the time change and everything. We all had to take very quick showers so we could all get one. Even the I.D.C.A. couldn't work their magic on our water heater. Well we played charades and watched Ray's epic fail in Walmart on my computer. There were lots of laughs and talking.

"How _did_ you fall like that?" I played back Ray's fall, "See, you were completely upright when you fell!"

"I got off balance when I threw my fists in the air and yelled yee!" Ray explained, "This is my favorite part right here," he rewound the video to where he said, "I can't feel my legs! …Oh wait," we all laughed our asses off, even Ray. I know he'd said it just to be funny, he made jokes about his disability all the time. Ray was paralyzed from the waist down, damn D.U.I. killed everyone in his immediate family but him, including his six month-old baby sister.

*LINE*

"Okay kids, get to bed, we leave early tomorrow." my mom told us, I put Peaches to bed in my room, then kissed Buck goodnight before heading to my room to go to sleep.

"Night, Love." Buck said.

"Goodnight sweets." I kissed him, then got started out of the living room, "Goodnight guys." I turned off the living room and hall lights while I made my way to my room. Then (guided by the light of my scentsy warmer) I got a pillow and a blanket and lied down on the floor a ways away from my bed, so Peaches wouldn't step on me, should she decide to get up out of bed in the middle of the night. Then slowly drifted off to sleep.

11-12

We woke up early so to get our stuff ready, and the kids in the truck and mini van. We decided that the twins, Peaches, and Anthony would be in the mini van with Manny and Ellie, and the rest would be in the truck with mom. I dosed off in the front with mom and Buck for about an hour.

(Ray: I get to tell this part cause she's asleep! ^^)

After a few minutes, Suzan fell asleep with her head on Buck's shoulder. Yeah, he's still not my favorite person in the whole wide world. I was okay with it though, mostly because Crystal was here, she could keep an eye on them. Buck was in the middle, and Suzan was in the passenger seat. We all listened to the radio for a little while, until Crystal noticed that Buck was asleep.

"How sweet, they fell asleep together." she said in a sighing coo, witch she rarely did since... well, ever.

I thought about being a wise-ass, how good it would feel to crack a joke, but messing up good sweet scenes was a little much, even for me. "Yeah, it is."

(Asia: This is the part where I snatch the lap-top from Ray! ;) ha ha!)

I woke up to one of my favorite songs, _The Farmer's Daughter,_ playing on the radio, I loved that one.

*LINE*

We got to Ann's place around noon, and all the guys went downstairs (Minis Ray, we split up at a gas station so he could go with Ben's mom. I guess he's not an orphan after all!), Peaches stayed with me while I went to see Hailee. Mom had something to do with Manny and Ellie, so she just dropped all of us kids and the mini van off.

"Hey, teeny tiny teenager!" I said, entering her room. She was on the phone texting, typical Hailee. We call her teeny tiny teenager because _I'm_ taller than her, and she's seventeen.

"Asia!" she said, she hugged me. "What's up? How are you? What-" she stared at Peaches for a minute, "Who's the kid?" she pointed to Peaches, who was hiding a little behind my legs.

"Oh, she's not the only one, she's got five brothers downstairs." I said. Hailee's jaw hung low. "They're adopted." I explained, "I'll tell you all about it in a sec. Emily, go downstairs with the other kids."

"Okay Suzy!" Peaches chirped, and then skipped out of the room and down the stairs.

"How many boys are down there?" Hailee asked.

"Six, they're adopted and Emily's not. Oh, plus Ray, he's just a friend." I answered, "Sit down, I'll tell you everything, okay? See, Diego was left on Manfred and Ellen's doorstep as an infant child. Ricky was found at an orphanage, abandoned at three years by his family. The twins, Cranston and Eddie lived in an "unstable environment" before a suicide pact from their parents in Montana. And last but absolutely not least, Barrett. His family came here from England four years ago; his parents died three years ago, that same year he met me, and I introduced him to Manfred and Ellen. We started dating not too long ago."

"Okay, I highly doubt all of that!" Hailee responded skeptically.

I lowered my eyelids and crossed my arms. "Come with me."

Once we got downstairs I told the guys to "tell her about themselves" and they repeated almost word-for-word what I had said. The final deal closer was when Buck kissed me. She sure looked pretty dumb, I liked it, I was R.I.G.H.T.! yup, usually I don't get the satisfaction. Well it was total sweetness until Buck said he loved me.

"I love you Suzy cue." Buck said sweetly.

"Gag me with a spoon!" Crash said, making a grossed-out face.

"Hey Barrett, Come upstairs with me for a minute." Hailee motioned to him, telling Buck to come with her.

Buck was pale white, hands shaking, sweat beading up on his forehead, he managed to say, "Okay" and follow Hailee upstairs.

"Oh, we're screwed. Screwed beyond hell. Screwed right into the wood!" I said, face-palming. This was one of those, _Cleaning this Gun_ moments. And if you've never heard that song, I strongly recommend you look it up.

The minutes felt like months, especially since nobody would talk.

"Asia, your turn." Hailee said, sending Buck downstairs.

Before I came upstairs, Buck whispered to me, "She scares me!" which helped, uh, none!

She didn't say anything, just showed me a video on her I-pod, it was her and Buck talking at the table. This is how it went:

Hailee: Barrett, you said something that intrigues me. You said the words, "I love you" to Asia. Now I know you two are dating, but it's a little early for-

Buck: I do love her, I'd do anything for her, walk to the ends of the earth for her, anything…

My heart swelled upon hearing him say these things.

Hailee: Do you have history with Asia, girls in general?

Buck: I have known her for three years, and we've been extremely close ever since. If this is about the whole, break-her-heart-and-I'll-break-your-neck, thing, I already got the whole speech from Crystal, and Ray.

(Ray, I keel you!)

Hailee: It isn't, I'm just concerned.

Buck: For who? If it's not that there's nothing to be concerned about. I love her, and I need her. I don't know what would ever become of me without Suzy cue being in my life.

Hailee: Well I believe you, just know that she does too.

"Okay... _**what**_ was that last line, huh? "she does too" what are you saying?" I was already angry that she's been scaring my boyfriend, but now she's_ saying _something? Oh,_ hell _no!

"I'm not saying anything. I just had to have a talk with the boy, it's my right as your friend." I was cooling down a bit now.

"Maybe," I said, "But you're scaring him, so lay off."

"Why does he call you Suzy cue?" Hailee asked, changing the subject.

"My nick-name is Suzy home-maker, so they all call me Suzan; or in his exclusive case, Suzy cue." I answered.

"Oh, I see." Hailee said knowingly, she sounded just like Jasmine.

"Well if that's it, I have to call Ray, he needs directions." I said.

"Who's he?"

"A friend of mine, here I'll show you a video of him on my laptop."

*LINE*

I showed Hailee the video, then called Ray. We gave him directions to Hailee's house on foot hills. He arrived around seven, mom's ETA was seven thirty, so he just hung around upstairs until then. I kept Ray company while Hailee stayed downstairs with the rest of the guys. Ray hooked a bug to the inside of Diego's shirt collar before we came in, so we could listen to them talking through his I-pod touch. This is the conversation:

Hailee: So you guys live in north Dakota?

Diego: Yes.

Hailee: So you two used to live in Montana?

Crash/Eddie: *in unison* Yep!

Hailee: Are you guys staying the whole weekend?

Buck: As long as Crystal, Anthony, and Suzy are.

Hailee: Cool… Asia! Come down here real quick!

I went downstairs to see what she wanted, "Yeah?"

"Where are these guys staying?" she asked.

"Ray's friend's place." I answered. I sat down next to Hailee on the huge fluffy bean-bag. "We figured there wasn't enough room here."

"We got room here." Hailee said, I couldn't believe this.

"Really?" I said, surprised.

"Yeah, we got a whole basement, plus Emily can sleep in my room with us." Hailee returned.

"Aren't Shelby and Rowdy here?" I answered.

"Yeah, but they'll get along okay, plus Shelby won't be here." Hailee informed me.

"Sounds good, Sounds good." I said happily.

*LINE*

We watched the final Harry Potter movie and all crashed wherever it is we had decided it decent to fall asleep, Hailee and I stayed up later than everyone else though. Duh.

11-13

Today was peaceful, sort of. Well I was one of the first to get up before noon, of course. Rowdy got up before me though, he was playing Halo 3 in the living room, so I figured I'd introduce him to the guys. As I expected, Ray (AS USUAL) slept under the kitchen table, and Peaches was on the couch.

"Good morning." I said, walking down the last few stairs. Nobody was awake, of coarse.

I woke Buck up first, then Diego, then the twins, then Sid. We all went upstairs, first me (Rowdy paid no attention), then the guys (Yeah, now he's confused).

"Hey, who's the people? And the little girl on the couch?" he asked, as if he were just then noticing a sleeping peaches on the couch right next to him.

"These are, well, our friends. I didn't introduce you yet did I?" I said obviously, "This is Barrett, Cranston, Diego, Eddie, the little one is Emily, Ricky, and the one asleep under the table is Ray." I explained.

"Why's there a wheel chair in the corner?" Rowdy asked.

I gave him the 'DUH!' look, then said, "Well there's a sleeping guy right next to it, what do you think?" I walked over and woke Ray up, then helped him into his chair.

"Oh, I get it." Rowdy said, "You guys wanna play? I got Halo 3."

"Sure, I'm up for it. You on the pro levels?" Ray said, rolling over to the living room.

"Right now." Rowdy answered, "What about you guys? Barett looks like a video game player."

"I'm not much for video games." Buck said, sitting next to me on the small sofa near the couch.

"Suit yourself. So what's with your name, Diego? You're white. Oh, that's racist, sorry."

"Rowdy! Shut up! What's in a name?" I intervened.

"Whatever." best come-back ever, huh?

"Whatever." I mimicked him.

"So, where's Manfred and Ellen?" Sid asked, they were getting good at calling each other by there alias names.

I shrugged, "I think Manny went someplace with Maverick. And mom and Ellen are getting their nails done." I answered.

"Morning!" Zayden called, entering the room. Zayden is one of Maverick's kids, Maverick is Ann's Boyfriend. Ann is Shelby, Rowdy, and Hailee's mom. "Whoa! What's with all the strangers?"

"This is…" I introduced the guys once more, "And this is their little sister, Emily." Peaches had woken up by now.

"You guys look nothing alike." Zayden grabbed a small bean-bag and sat down.

"We're all adopted 'cept Emily." Diego explained, "And Ray's just a friend." he gestured to Ray.

"Whoa! People!" Billy walked into the living room, it was getting crowded.

"Come sit on my lap Em, give Billy someplace to sit." I said, Peaches did as she was told right away.

"How many kids does Ann have?" Billy asked, seeming VERY freaked out.

I counted all of us in the room, which added up to a whopping 10 kids. "Um, ten? They're not all Ann's though, just two." I explained.

"What about the others?" Billy asked.

"They're friends of ours, they tagged along." I said.

"All of them?" Billy looked confused.

"They're all in the same family." Hailee interrupted.

"Really? They all look nothing alike."

"That's what _I_ said!" Zayden interrupted Hailee interrupting me.

"We're all adopted except Emily." Buck explained.

"He's English?" Rowdy asked… um, Duh!

"No way?" I said.

"Yeah, my immediate family came here four years ago." Buck explained. "My mum and dad died three years ago, then I met Crystal, Asia, and Anthony, who introduced me to Manfred and Ellen."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Billy sat down, "What'd they die of?"

"A bad case of nosey." I interrupted. "Let's stay on the video games subject please.

"Okay, okay. Hey Zayden, why don't you let one of these guys play?"

"We really don't play video games much." Crash said.

"I told 'em they were crazy people." Ray said.

"And what about you? Are you part of the fam?" Billy asked.

"Nah, I'm just a friend. They were originally supposed to stay with me and my bud at his place, but we changed our accommodations at the last minute." Ray explained.

Just then, my phone rang. It was my friend Zaygen Blowscowski, she invited me to go to the skate rink with her. I told her I had company, so I needed to call mom and ask her, so I did. Mom said I could go as long as I took the guys, that meant the guys of the herd. So I called Z-buggie back and let her mom know to bring the mini van with _all _the seats up. We'd have eight people plus her mom in the car, so it'd be a tight squeeze, but we could make it work.

*LINE*

"Asia!" Zaygen half yelled, running up to give me a hug. "Whoa, you weren't kidding when you said you had company!" she stared at the guys for a minute, then got back to me. "Witch one are you dating?"

"Barrett, pleased to meet your acquaintance." Buck said, shaking Zaygen's hand.

Zaygen's jaw nearly hit the floor, "You got a British guy? Some girls have all the luck I swear to god." she gave Buck a once-over, "And he's hot, too!"

"Yeah, and don't try moving in on Ricky, Diego, or Sid." I warned, "They're snatched up too."

Zaygen snapped her fingers in a discouraged manner, "Darn it! Well, we better get going." she laughed.

"I agree," I said, "Ray, are you sure you don't want to go with us?" I asked, "It'll be fun."

Ray looked at me like I was also handicapped, mentally! "Do I really look like I can roller skate to you?" he gestured to his lower half.

"Oh right. Duh, sorry." I said, embarrassed. We all left to get into the car and get to Skate Land.

"Seeya later guys!" Peaches called out the window, waving at us from in the house.

"Bye bye, Em! We'll see you later today!" I called back as we drove away.

*LINE*

Once we got our skates, we all headed to the benches to get them on and ready. I was in the middle of strapping my left skate up, when I felt a chill, then I looked up. I saw, _it_. _It's_ name is Lauren, I knew her, and for a while (though I am ashamed of it today) she was my friend.

"Oh hell no." I said under my breath.

Buck seemed to be following my gaze to where _it_ was, "Who's that?" he asked.

"That's a problem." I whispered, "She's like, ten times worse than Christa, with a stupid hair color." she'd dyed it all different highlights, and it looked really tacky and cheap.

"Well don't even worry your pretty little head about that. You've got us to back you up, Suzy cue." Buck assured me, giving me the heart-melter.

"Thanks babe." I said, trying to keep my face hidden.

Before I even started getting my other skate on, I saw Lauren looking at me, I really had to improvise. It was surprisingly easy to act upon instinct. I lifted Buck's face from whatever it was he was looking at, and kissed him, long, and obvious. I wanted _it_ to know that I was here to play hard ball, and not here to show maturity. I had taken crap from her for almost an entire year, and now it was her turn. I vowed right then and there that she would get a whole year's worth of her own medicine before the night's end.

"Wow," was Buck's simple response, he looked real surprised, and happy, too. Then he kissed me back.

"Dudes, get a fricking room! Gag!" Crash said.

"Oh, shut your face, will ya?" I complained, "You guys ready?"

All the boys, including a clumsy Sid, tried to get up, but were off balance. "This is weird," Buck said, almost falling on his face. "How do you do it?"

"Practice, dear Barrett, practice." I answered, standing and taking his hands. "Just try to balance yourselves."

After a bit, the guys were up and running, so to speak. We all headed out onto the rink, I noticed they had redone the flooring, and the twins were going head-long trying to race. Buck wanted to skate with me, and Sid was bugging Diego about some song he wished they would play. That's when I felt a familiar chill come upon me, Lauren was trying to sneak up on me, I knew it was her because she's not a stealthy as she thinks.

I turned right around and yelled "BOO!" in her face, she fell backwards. "That's what you get!" I half yelled, pointing at her. I skated away, trying to catch up with Buck.

"Hey, what's your problem, you freak!" Lauren yelled, pushing me against the wall, I fell to the floor, "I would think you'd have gotten over yourself by now!" she screamed, kicking me.

I screamed, and Buck came to my rescue, "Hey, leave 'r alone!" he yelled, trying his best to skate over to us. Lauren kicked me again, "You got cotton in your ears bloody bitch? I told you to leave 'r alone!"

Lauren skated away as fast as her trampy legs would go, falling, then picking herself right up like a football player. Smart girl, running away like that, she would have had all of hell's fire broken loose on her if I'd been on my own two feet.

"Are you okay? Speak to me love," Buck said, lifting me up off the ground, all I could manage close to speaking was a moan, "Come on let's go sit down." he led me over to the far benches near the little kids' party room, "Is it much pain?"

"Yeah, it is." I said flatly, I felt sick, she had kicked me in the stomach.

"You look really hurt." he said, sounding concerned.

"No shit?" I said, I suddenly felt like I would throw up. And boy I threw up. I bent over the trash can, very quickly, and puked like I'd never puked before while Buck held my hair back.

"Holey crap! Asia!" I heard Zaygen yell behind us, "What the fuck happened here?"

"She got, well… got. Lauren kicked her in the stomach." Buck explained, still holding my hair.

I stood up, once done puking, and wiped my mouth with the napkin from Zaygen's big Pretzel, then said, "I'm gonna got to the bathroom real quick." with that I skated off through the skate floor, to avoid Lauren. She was in the snack bar area, near the front where the ladies room was.

I walked into the bathroom and locked the door, so I could use the mirror privately, to see if I had a bruise. I had a bruise alright, many a bruise, all on my torso.

"Suzy cue? Suzy it's me!" I heard Buck's voice, he was also knocking on the door. "Are you alright?"

"I'm okay," I lied, I was in a lot of pain, I though she'd broken one of my ribs when she kicked me, roller skates are _very_ hard. "I'll be out in a minute."

"Okay, well I'm gonna request our song for you, you know the guy don't you?" I did in fact, I didn't know if he was working that night, but if he were, Keith would definitely play our song for us. And either way, it was still so sweet of him to request a song for me, him and his shy self. He had gotten more and more shy since we'd entered the human world, I thought it _was_ actually kind of cute.

"Yeah, I do. I'll be right out." I answered. I noticed I had been crying, so I grabbed my purse and a few paper towels so I could compose myself, so to speak, make it look like everything was all peachy and fine. Well it sure looked like it was okay, but still waters run deep, as they say in the books.

Once I was ready, I thought I was, I unlocked the bathroom door and went outside to check the perimeter. And what I saw was half delight, and half nightmare… well three out of- okay it was all good. Sid was teaching some kids his Sid dance from the second movie, and Lauren was being kicked out. Then _Never Alone_ started to play, and as you all know, that's me and Buck's song.

He was waiting at the skate floor entrance with his hand stretched out for me to take. They had the disco ball on, and Keith announced, "This one's dedicated to Barrett and Suzy cue, have fun you guys." on the loud speaker. I was so touched, I'd always wanted to skate under the disco ball to our song, it was a night to remember. A night to remember that ended with a kiss, and "Damn, that'll never get old!"

11-14

Today had good points, and bad points. Some of the bad points are: I had a math test (I didn't finish). I was horrible in gym when we played some game like tennis. My bra kept on bugging me with it's itchy straps. And science was when misses Polivka talked about the "woman factor" in the middle of our cell lesson.

Some good points were: The Missy I sat next to in science moved! (I sit next to Nicky now) Tina and Cassie sat next to me, Megan, Ray, and the rest of the guys. And lastly, Buck and them got to come over to my house.

11-16

We had fun in science today, all we did was talk and take notes. Sierra almost got herself moved for talking to me though. We read chapter twenty-one of _The Westing Game _in reading with misses Lam. She, along with miss Dwyer, has become one of my favorite teachers. Geography was good too, we all had to make a poster on a certain state, I did Wyoming, and all had to present them to the class. I brought, _The Westing Game _home to read the next chapter or two.

The end of science class was especially interesting, "She said you… _showed_ something." from the short Adrian.

Sierra's eyes, I swear to god, glowed bright red. "Did not! She's just jealous she doesn't have anything _to_ show!"

I gave an audible tongue click, "Gossip, vicious gossip's all." I muttered.

"Exactly!" Sierra agreed. I was somewhat famous for my little wise-cracks, same as Ray.

I gave another tongue click, "Gossip, humph, I hate such nasty roomers, such filth." I was actually getting into my personal past, and the present, where Tina was being mad fun of. "Such people need to get lives of their own."

"I agree completely!" Sierra threw in.

*LINE*

I talked to Buck on the way home, we sat together on the bus, and I called J.J. to make plans to do something on Friday or Saturday.

"Hey, J… Yeah we should all get together this weekend… is there a new Ghost Adventures on? …I can't "Voice my opinion" on whether Zak Begins is hot J.J. …because of my relationship status …I know you're dating somebody too but- you know what, it's my stop I G2G, I'll call you back later."

We watched second Ice Age movie on the director's commentary, it was fun, and then went out to play with Jasmine and Brittany Wilson, who was at Jasmine's place for a sleepover. We had fun all bouncing around on a trampoline, and riding on a sled attached to their four-wheeler. We all biffed it except the twins.

Soon guys had to leave, so when Manny and Ellie got there I kissed Buck goodnight, and went back inside the house, where mom gave me a radio clock to put next to my bed. I took a good long look at my bedroom and thought about moving the bed and nightstand to the next wall over. Once I did so, the room looked better, roomier, and a lot more comfortable. I did like, three loads of laundry whilst writing this very journal entry, and listening to the radio on Z-96 FM. I have to go to sleep now, but I'll write more tomorrow.

11-17

A few memorable things happened today, I had to finish my math test, and I sat with some new people today. I sat with the other boys, a few of the others, the tall Adrian, Eric, David, and Jamison. The girls beside us kept on giggling about nothing-like us girls do- and the boys were commenting on such. Anyhow, I also was the only on who knew about what happened in _The Westing Game_, and I had to bite back the secrets. I _may_ have told Buck about it over the phone this morning, though.

The thing we did in music was fun, we made a cover page for our Rock and Roll projects in the library on the computers. I sat next to Kamery, and taught her how to make your report seem really intelligent, but not have to know anything at all.

Science was the best though, we did some stuff with the microscopes. Sierra had some sort of a basketball thing, so I did the microscope work myself. I did get to talk to Buck though, his lab partner is the new boy, Tyler. He came over to me acting all flirty and such, and almost kissed me, Tyler screwed that one up.

"Barrett, dude, play with your girl later, we gotta get this crap done!"

Buck winked at me, then left. "Seeya after class." I promised, then went back to studying the plant cell I had in the slide.

After class, as promised, Buck and I headed to our lockers. They were located next to Sid, Ray, Diego, and the twins' lockers. We got our books put them in our backpacks and our excess stuff into our lockers, then we headed off towards our bus. The boys and Peaches were coming over today, cause we decided it to be a movie night.

"Suzy! Diego! Barrett! Ricky! Cranston! Eddie!" a little voice hollered. Then I saw Peaches, running towards us in her little pink snowsuit, and clutching her Cinderella lunch box.

"Hey Em, what are you doing here?" I asked, I could only imagine being a little third-grader in a hallway full of giant scary teenagers, since I'd never had to do so before- as I little kid anyways. Now a days I had to be brave when it came to that sort of thing.

"A lady from my school brought me over here and told me to find you guys." Peaches explained.

"Oh, well, come on Em, get on my back and hold this." Diego offered, handing Peaches his backpack, and squatting down to where she could get on. Peaches hopped on Diego's back and laughed at how he struggled to get up.

"Wow, I can see everything up here!" Peaches remarked, grinning sweetly, as little girls usually do.

We got back on course to the front after picking Peaches up, but things went wrong something terrible when we passed by the tall Adrian.

Adrian isn't mean, he's nice. I mean, he does yell a lot, but just to be funny. He was yelling at some other kid to get out of his face or something, like... _right_ when Diego passed by with Peaches on his back. She started crying, sobbing, Adrian must have REALLY scared her, because she was clutching Diego's black-and-blue snow coat really hard.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Adrian tried to apologize, so I lifted Peaches off of Diego's back and told her Adrian wanted to say sorry.

Adrian, way too tall for little Peaches, squatted down and got eye level with her. "Hey, I'm sorry if I scared you." he said nicely. Peaches looked like she was thinking it all over, then smiled.

The next thing she did tickled _all _of us. She kicked Adrian in the shin, then said, "What do you mean, _if _you scared me?" that girl takes after her mother something fierce!

We all laughed, except Adrian. Well, he _did _laugh a little, and said, "Okay, sorry, I guess I deserved that." bet ya he won't ever yell like _that_ ever again!

*LINE*

We boarded the school bus, Buck and I sat in the front (I got the outside seat). Nicky was in the seat next to mine, (and her locker was near the tall Adrian's... ha!) we both started laughing out loud just like we were crazy.

"Hi Nicky." Buck said, waving.

"What's up, B-Barrett," Nicky was still laughing a little, and trying to catch her breath.

"Oh, nothing, just watching my silly girlfriend and her girlfriends titter." Buck returned, trying to hold back his own laughter, it seemed.

We got into a discussion about the movie _Grown Ups_, and Nicky and I said, "Throw the rock. Throw it at a tree. Throw it at the lake. Throw it at your brother." at the same time, and ended up laughing our heads of again. Then she had to leave, so we all said our goodbyes, and our I'll text you laters.

When we got home we watched _Up in The Air _and I, among "others" cried like we did when old yeller died. After words I got the surprise of my life, for some odd reason, Buck wanted to, "help me with getting my camera phone" out of my room.

He said these exact words: okay, "This'll seem cheesy after seeing that movie, but, I think a commitment is in order here." then he pulled out a ring from his pocket, and put it on my left ring finger. It was a thin, gold band. Curly cues both ending in a small diamond, I could tell it was real too, so sweet of my Buck.

Then I said, "You wan to go steady? That is sooo sweet!" I was in my old high-pitched girly voice (rarely used) now. "You know me too well! Old school is sooo my thing!"

11-18

Today was very disappointing at math time. I am, 'not doing too well in mathematics' so I have to retake a test. She called me back to her desk to talk to her for a moment. _Dead girl walking._ Is all I could think as I walked up to her desk, I was sooo deceased!

I had P.E. after math class, so I could run it out. A big surprise was, both classes had gym that day, so there were like, fifty kids running around (or rolling around) the gym and the weight room.

Whilst getting undressed, all the girls were screaming and squealing and giggling. Especially when some of the boys passed the stairs, I was completely undressed, and in partial view from the stairs. Well, I leaped out of the way and continued getting ready (After, the boys left of course). I got on my gym clothes, a black USA t-shirt and a pair of purple long shorts, and my neon pink socks with pink and blue sketchers. Being careful to take off my ring and granny's heart-shaped locket (containing pictures of me and Buck) and put them into the back pocket of my folded up jeans, I sure didn't want my promise ring or locket getting stolen, I headed up the stairs.

My first instinct was to get to the weight room so I could get the step machine first and foremost, but I got stopped by Tina, who asked where I was going. "To the weight room." I answered. "I'm royally pissed off, so I'm going to run off my anger."

I was going hard on the stepper when Buck walked in, he came up to the stepper and asked if I was okay. Buck knew whenever I was exercising a whole bunch, it usually meant I was pissed. (uh, wise to know!) That and whenever my MP3 player was so loud you could hear the exact words of a song.

"How's my girl?" he asked, giving me what I assumed to be a wink.

"Pissed." I answered flatly, then I softened as I slowed down. I'd burned sixty calories, and I felt light-headed. "How's my boy?"

"Okay… hey, you're not wearing your ring?" he looked sad.

"I didn't want it to get lost." I returned, "I'm mad see, that always ends in me losing something. I didn't want to take the chance of losing it… it's **way** too special." I smiled and messed up his hair, "I'll put it right back on after class," I lowered my voice, "Swear on Rudy's tooth."

He looked satisfied with my answer, smiling, almost kissing me, but I had to stop him. "Ah, ah, ah. Can't kiss in school there, big boy."

"Oh, that's just great, you're mad and you won't even bend the rules a little for old Barrett?" Buck whined.

"Oh brother!" Crash and Eddie said at the same time, (as twins do sometimes) popping up out of nowhere.

"Whatever," I said, kissing Buck on the cheek, "There, I bent the rules just a tad bit for old Barett."

"Speaking of kisses, where's my boyfriend? I needs me some sugar!" was this? It was! Megan!

"M&M? I freaking missed you!" I half yelled, turning around.

"Hey continent!" as if I wasn't fed up with jokes about my name. I'm talking to _you_ (fill in name of reader)! Anyhow, I hugged Megan and pointed her in the direction of Diego in the gym; I decided I needed to come along to watch the fun.

She snuck up behind Diego, (who was playing catch with David) almost as tall as him, and covered his eyes, whispering "Guess who?" in his left ear.

Diego whipped around, seeing Megan, his eyes lit up. "Megsie!" he yelled, picking her up in a hug and twirling her around.

"D!" was all 'Megsie' (She'd never hear the end of _that_ nickname) could manage to say. That was yet another thing that reminded me of Sophie, how she always called Diego 'D' ya know? I figured the sadness would go away with my anger.

"Hey that's the bell guys." Ray said, rolling by us. "Ring, ring, ring… rrrrrring!" so subtle Ray. It was okay though, cause the bell rang right after that.

*LINE*

"Hey, who's in the gold chains?" that's Tina slang for: "Who's picture is inside the locket?"

"Me and Barrett" I answered proudly.

"Wow, could I feast my eyes?" she asked, lightly touching the locket around my neck.

"After we get dressed Tina, you know I hate getting undressed in a locker room." I answered.

I got my clothes on first, then applied some lotion on my hands. That's when I realized I hadn't gotten my ring pout of my back pocket yet, so I did, and put it on.

*LINE*

When I got home mom talked to me and Anthony for a bit, Anthony got sick and threw up after dinner though, so he went to bed. When mom asked how my grades were, I told her the truth. My math grade is bombing, but I've got good grades in everything else.

Buck texted me a few minutes ago, this is our conversation:

Buck: how's my Suzy cue?

Me: not 2 bad, how's my Buckminster?

Buck: missing u something terrible.

Me: u don't know how much I miss u right now.

Buck: I can imagine. G2G Ellie says get off the phone, love you.

Me: love you 2, Seeya later ;)

11-19

"Hey, you guys wanna go someplace today?" I asked; this morning I'd called Buck.

"Like where?" he asked.

"Like you, me, Diego, the twins, Sid. Ice caves, I'm talking enormous slides and trapdoors, fun!" I answered, "I'll stop time and poof you guys over here so we can all go together. It'll be really fun, lots of danger. It isn't Dinotopia, but it's a lot of fun." I was overusing the word "fun" out of lack of a better word, and nervousness.

"Now you're talking, maybe we should go to Dinotopia some time or another, just me and you." he offered.

"That would be great," I said, "Now go and tell the guys they're coming with us." that's when I took off my promise ring and put it inside my black velvet ring box, and hid it under my chest of drawers (or commonly referred to as a dresser). Knowing Anthony he'd probably want to steal it or hide it from me, because he knew how much it meant to me.

"Okay, so when are we going?" he asked, blonde, blonde child I tell ya.

"Now, just tell the guys so they're not freaked out when they suddenly show up in the ice age in their animal forms." I answered, "Prepare to be a weasel again my dear."

I hung up after that and waited a respectable amount of time before getting the guys over to my place, first thing's first though, I had to get out my old amulet. A while back I decided not to wear the amulet all the time, just because it might have gotten lost. I dug the amulet out of my sewing box and put it on, remembering _now_ that it wouldn't come off unless I so desire.

The next thing I knew, after imagining were we all would be, we were there. Half peak and the ice caves, in my weasel form, so was Buck. The other guys were in there animal forms as well.

"Oh! How I missed this spine!" Buck shouted, twisting and turning all over creation.

"Hey guys, I found a shortcut!" Diego joked.

"Hold it, where are we?" Eddie asked.

"Who cares? Sid says it's the best place for adrenalin in the entire ice age!" Crash retaliated.

"This is the most fun slide complex in the ice age." Diego remarked, running towards the entrance.

We all followed, and before long, we were all having the time of our lives. Buck started surfing on a block of ice before biffing it and continuing sliding. The twins were raising two kinds of cane, running all over the place, through all kinds of trap doors. At one point, they landed on Diego and dug their sharp claws into his butt, sooo a repeat of the last time Sid, Diego, Manny, and pinky were there. This time, if course, Diego met the business end of the claws. I raced Sid for a while, before we reached the part where all the sharp shards of ice were. Luckily for us, a path was cut through the middle of the shards by the 'ice berg' the guys rode on in the first movie.

At the end of the ride, I popped (no pun- okay pun intended) up out of the snow and shouted, "Woo Hoo!" then punched Diego on the shoulder, then I yelled, "Ya! Who's up for round two?" they were all staring at me in horror, and then I felt something dripping on my left foot. I looked down, it was blood. Then I looked at my left arm, "WHOLY SHIT!" I screamed, "How in the hell did I not feel that?"

*LINE*

"What the hell? How'd that happen?" mom asked, staring down at my bloody bandaged arm.

"We went to the ice caves earlier to have some fun, we were bored." I answered, my face was red, and so was the deep gash on my arm. I always got hurt when I was the only girl amongst a bunch of crazy guys.

"Why did you go to the ice age? Some tiger could have seen you or something." mom had seen all the movies a million times, so she knew the tigers lived near half peak. Of course, they'd all moved away as far as we knew.

"Nobody was there mom." I looked away; I didn't want to talk about it anymore.

*LINE*

Buck called me later that night, asked if I was okay, the following is our conversation:

Buck: You're sure that you're alright love?

Me: I'm sure Buck; I don't want to talk about it anymore.

I hung up on him, then he called me right back:

Buck: Suzy, did you hang up on me?

Me: I don't know, did it sound anything like this? Click, dial tone.

Buck: I'm really, really, really sorry you got hurt Suzy…

Me: It isn't your fault baby, I'm sorry I'm getting so crotchety.

Buck: Ha, Crotchety. Listen, I gotta go, but I love ya to pieces.

Me: I love you too; see you tomorrow or the next day.

That's when I hung up and put on the radio. I heard the song, _I Got Nothing_ by Darius Rucker, and it reminded me of Buck and my fight, so I decided to put on my ring. It made me feel good to actually have it on again.

11-21

Today was good and bad, I'm flunking math big time. What's worse is, we played that one tennis-like game again, and our team got annihilated.

Our team consisted of Brittany Jo, the short Adrian, David, Ray, and Justin; since Ray didn't have much mobility (Still doing better than me) we got an extra, me. Some extra, huh? I sooo suck at sports. We lost 25:6.

"Come on baby, don't be a sore loser. It's hard to kiss you if you're frowning so much," Diego was talking to Megan. Okay, I'll be honest, I am pretty sure the teams were stacked against Megan's team. Her team consisted of her, Ashley, the other Megan, Brady, and Brock. Brock's a pretty good athlete, but is the most annoying person I've met in this school yet! Diego's team consisted of him, Buck, Michal, Eric, and Brittany Wilson, who helped cream their butts across the court. Diego got cocky though, he is _the_ best player of any sport. Buck, Michal, and Eric are also some of the best of anybody in the school, that I know of.

"Diego. You, are, a, show off!" Megan said. Then she stepped on his foot and stalked off.

"Wow, great job Romeo." I said, grabbing my science notebook and binder. Buck, Nicky, Sid, and I walked to the science room together.

*LINE*

"Okay, let's all get to the computer lab." Miss Polifka announced.

We chatted on the way to the lab, just across the hall. Sierra sat next to me, and we shared notes on cells and stuff.

When I got home I mostly watched movies on video commentary, and pealed potatoes for the crock-pot food Mathew was making.

11-22

Today, I'll be shit honest, was horrible! The worst so far. The first thing that happened, I got busted for having notes written on my hands during a quiz, well I suffered over that, and I have another big quiz in geo tomorrow. I have to study for that, and a science test.

Well, I was doing the nerd-walk in the hall on the way to math class. The well known nerd-walk is when you walk hugging your books tightly and have your head hung. I hated walking in such a way; it was derogatory and dumb-looking. "_Dumb girl, keep __your head held high, Buck up!_" the voice in my head (A.K.A. my common sense) shouted at me in my head. I couldn't help it, though. Usually when I do that, people can tell I'm in a bad mood, or just plain low. Buck usually helps me out when I feel that way, comes up and makes me laugh or holds up my left hand and says, "No matter what, love, I will always be here."

Good news: I got an A+ on my homework. Bad news, I had music today next. Music isn't exactly my _favorite _class, but I manage.

Good news for music: We had a study hall because we weren't able to use the computers today. Bad news: I didn't have much to do _during_ said study hall.

On the way home I called up J.J., I wanted to propose an idea to her…

Me: Hey J.

J.J.: Hey A.

Me: How about we get together this weekend and talk to somebody.

J.J.: Like who?

Me: All I'm able to say is, I need to dig up my Ouija board.

Thanksgiving weekend 11-23

Today was rough, I won't lie, we had to take a surprise visit to Gillette for the weekend, and we were in the car all night. I tried reading but mom said I had to turn off the book light, witch meant I had zero things to do. The worst part is, like, all of my friends are busy this weekend. The worst worst part is, Buck and the guys can't be with us this time cause Ann's place is already chock full of people. We're staying at my mom's friend Jersey's place. Jersey isn't his real name though, Lenny is. He doesn't live in this apartment yet, so we get the whole place to ourselves.

Well, J.J. and I couldn't do the Ouija board anyhow, because it's with Hailee. I decided I'd take her up on that offer to do the Ouija board and contact her friend T-Bear, then we'd talk to Sophie, or the other way around, but first I needed to tell her about the I.D.C.A., and that may have gotten me in trouble, but I decided I'd call her in the morning and tell her.

Thanksgiving weekend, 11-24

This morning (after I'd showered and shaved, brushed my teeth, etc) I called Hailee and tried to calmly explain the whole story to her.

Hailee: WHAT THE HELL?

Me: Hailee, Hailee calm down!

Hailee: Why didn't you tell me?

Me: A matter of national security.

Hailee: Oh don't give me that bull crap!

Me: Will you help me or not?

Hailee: Fine, if we can talk to-

Me: T-Bear, I know.

Hailee: Who's Sophie again?

Me: You've read my log, you know.

Hailee: I thought you made her up.

Me: That's just what I wanted you to think.

We hung up and I continued with my day, typing (Like now) using Jersey's internet signal, trying to keep Anthony out of my hair etc. My brother wouldn't get off my back about using my laptop, but I told him he couldn't because I was using it and he really needed to read a book or something.

Well we went out for dinner, somehow someplace was actually open on Thanksgiving, and we went over to Ann's place so mom could chat with the grown-ups.

"Hey teeny tiny teenager!" I said, going up to hug Hailee.

"Asia!" Hailee returned, hugging me. "You ready?" she asked immediately.

"Yep. Mom, we'll be using the Ouija board in Hailee's room." I returned, motioning for Hailee to follow me.

*LINE* ha ha ha! Cliff hanger!

"So, we first have to attract her spirit. I know she's with me already, because she's my guardian angel, but she needs to know to communicate with us." I said, getting the Ouija board out of Hailee's closet.

"Okay, remind me again how she died?"

"…She was anorexic." I said after a long pause, "Well, let me check something on my e-mail first." I opened the laptop and logged on to Hotmail, where the surprises of my life awaited. "Hailee! Get this, they're actually making a forth ice age!"

"What? How is that even possible?" Hailee said urgently, I hushed her and continued reading, "Yes, in this one the three guys, Manny, Diego, and Sid get stuck in the middle of the ocean. The continents are drifting, the core is getting hotter, so is Diego's love life, and he gets a girl in this one."

"Whoa, crazy. So what's this other one that says 'urgent' on it?"

I checked the message, opening it. "Oh Jesus." the e-mail said Ray's cousin had cancer. "Ray's younger cousin Ellis has the big C." I explained.

"Oh god, I hope the doctors can fix it." Hailee said.

"Probably not, Ellis is already very sick and has a speech disability." I answered. "Well, we should get to this shouldn't we?"

"Yeah, we'd better; it'll be dark soon anyways."

"Okay, so we need to set some stuff up, I've got a picture and some music to play so Sophie will know to communicate with us." I grabbed my notebook out of my shoulder bag, and opened it up to the page with my drawing of Sophie as an angel (Seen on my DA page). The next thing I did was load the You Tube video of God Blessed the Broken Road karaoke.

"What's all this for?" Hailee asked.

"These things have deep meaning in our relationship as soul-sisters." I explained. I fumbled through my bag, looking for the heart shaped rock Sophie had given me for my birthday. Sure enough, it was already out of the bag, and right next to me. It had B+S carved into it; Soph had done that with her own two paws. "We had a lot of good times, and these are memories, and my version of photos."

Hailee cocked her head to one side, looking at my picture of Sophie, "She's pretty." she said, not making it any easier on me to be doing this.

"Tell that to her." I kept on looking at the picture of her; I'd gotten her features spot-on, all but her hands, so I'd made them covered up by the sleeves of her angel robe.

"Okay," Hailee opened the package and took out the board, "Let's talk to our guardian angels."

I placed everything very neatly next to the rug we sat on. We placed our hands on the planchette, and it automatically started to move. First it went to the H, and then to the I. Next it moved to the R, then to the E, then to the D. All together, Sophie said, "Hi Red."

"Bumble bee?" I said, tears threatening; I bit them back.

The planchette moved to the 'yes' on the board.

"Oh my god, Sophie." I said, and I swear to god, I heard Sophie talk to me. She said, "Mom's with me." that made me scared. Rose, dead. Jack and Jared must be terribly lonely with her gone too.

"Rose is with you, bumble bee? She's in heaven with ya'll up there." I said, the planchette moved in a circle around the 'yes', meaning yes. "Oh my god, Sophie, I miss ya something awful soul-sister." now I was almost crying. I _was_ getting real choked up, though.

Hailee hadn't said a single word, but it was getting dark, and Soph was still talking to us. The planchette moved to the letters that spelled out, "Don't cry for me be a big girl." like she'd said in her note.

"I can't help it Soph, you little knuckle head!" I was almost crying, but laughing too. "You know I'm just that. A big, girl!"

I blacked out; I wasn't out cold, just in a trance (that I would later discover, scared Hailee into tears). I realized I was in my weasel form, having an OBE (out of body experience) with Sophie right next to me. She wore angel robes, her emo hair, a halo, and the necklace with the dino tooth on it that I'd given her.

"Hey, red." Sophie smiled at me.

"O M G! Sophie, Bumble bee," that's when a single tear slipped out of my blinking eye. "Oh Sophie, I missed you sooo much!" I wrapped her in a tight bear hug.

"Oh, Red. Come on now, I'm always with you…" she seemed to be fading out of my arms.

"No, Sophie! Sophie, come back! Please, Sophie!" I begged, crying like a baby now.

"I love you Red." Her voice was being drowned out by Hailee saying my name.

I found myself awake in the real world, "I love you, Bumble bee."

"Asia, Asia! Wake up!" Hailee said, shaking me (yet somehow managing not to disturb the board).

"Hailee?" I blinked a few times, realizing I'd lost the feeling in my lower half. "Hailee, I can't feel my legs."

"Asia, we're putting this away," Hailee started putting the board away, "This, Sophie's bad news."

"You shut your mouth!" I shouted, "Watch what you say about Sophie! I love her; she's always been nothing but good news! My angel sister."

Hailee looked shocked, hurt. Good. She deserved it! She didn't know Sophie; she didn't know her like I did. "She possessed you!"

"I swear to god, you say one more thing about Sophie and I'll-" she did something that would possibly end our relationship, and speaking grounds for life. Hailee slapped me across the face, and you know what? I did the same! "There! How do you like it! And for your information, Sophie took me to heaven, I saw her, I saw the golden gates, you don't know shit!" then I picked up all my stuff and hurried out of the room, Hailee just looked angry, she didn't do anything else.

*LINE*

Our fight lead to me telling mom we were leaving that very moment, no ifs ands or buts. Mom asked me about the red mark on my face, and I told her the whole story. She was outraged that Hailee had said what she'd said, and done what she'd done.

"How could she say that?" mom asked, seeming perplexed at Hailee's actions that evening.

"She took me to heaven mom, Sophie did. I got to see the golden gates, she didn't possess me at all, and she actually cleansed me I think." I said, not exactly acknowledging mom's last statement.

"Well," mom didn't say anything else; I guess she had nothing _to_ say.

*LINE*

When mom and Anthony got out of the car, I stayed behind. I told mom I needed to compose my purse, but really, I needed to make a call. My call was to the one boy who would always be on my side no matter what I was accused of, Buck. Whether I was accused of being possessed by some demonic entity, or cheating on a test, he'd take my side.

I went to the contacts and selected his name. I took a while to stare at his picture, it was a silly one where he was pretending to play a violin and making a snooty face like some Richie Rich kid. Well, his dial tone is our song, which made me cry, literally wailing in the middle of the truck. He picked up and asked me what was the matter, and I told him the whole story (Including that of Ray's cousin). I cried it out for ten minutes, Buck on the other end pacifying me, and then decided to finally compose myself and (as Sophie would have wanted) be a big girl.

"Baby, I gotta go," I said, actually working at my running mascara with a baby wipe, "I gotta get inside."

"Alright Darling, be safe. Don't forget to pray. I love you." Buck answered soothingly.

"I'll call ya back later sometime." I said, grabbing my purse and computer bag, "I love you too."

I hung up and went inside, trying my best not to look conspicuous. A tall order if you ask me, a thirteen-year-old with a tearstained face, messed up hair, and to top it all off, doing the nerd walk to the door to Jersey's apartment.

Well mom asked what in bloody New Hampshire took me so long and if I'd locked the truck. I said I'd lost my compact, and yes, and then threw her the keys.

Thanksgiving weekend 11-25

Well Hailee apologized, and I made her apologize to Sophie too, and pray to god for forgiveness. (That last part is not because I'm all that religious, no. I just say grace at meals, pray before I go to sleep, etc.) Anyhow, we watched funny You Tube videos (Especially Ray's Epic Fail in Walmart!) before Zerick's party, that's another of Maverick's kids, along with a set of twins. My favorite part was her making up the music and co-writing a song about Sophie.

Anyways, the night was all good until I scared myself half to death at Jersey's place! In the middle of the night I tired to turn the kitchen light on, but I ended up turning the garbage disposal on by accident, my heart was racing and I couldn't get back to sleep.

Since I couldn't fall asleep, I went on DA and updated on personal stuff, plus did more research on the new Ice Age film. So far, I've gathered this information, Diego will be dating Shira (Voiced by J Lo), Sid sees his long-lost family, and the humans come back.

Thanksgiving weekend 11-26

Well we went back to Ann's again today, and there were still a million kids there. I took off to the basement so I could get some peace and quiet from the rest of the guys.

Since I hadn't yet called Ray to offer my condolences, I opened my phone and leaned against the wall while scrolling through the contacts. I took a second to look at the information; his number, ring tone (Hip hop guy), and his picture. It was him in his wheelchair (Set on the back two wheels), wearing a Barbie helmet, and a big mouth-wide-open smile.

His dial tone was regular, making me more anxious about what to say to him. I hung up before he answered, just out of not knowing what the hell to say. If he called back, I didn't know what I'd do. Well he didn't call back, just sent a text message saying "Check ur email." so _that_ made me feel terrible. Well I couldn't stand being alone and knowing Ray was waiting for me to say how sorry I was, so I called him.

Ray picked up, his voice reveled he'd been crying. "Hey, did ya get the e-mail?" he asked, heartbreaking.

"Yeah, I'm so sorry Ray." I said, trying every millisecond to figure out something better to say. "I bet it'll get better."

"The doctors say they caught it in time, so it will. I'm just so scared, disabled already, and now cancer? Wow, life's fucked up." he said.

"Hey, PAW okay?" that meant Parents Are Watching, "Listen, I gotta go, but just promise me you'll keep praying for good fortune?"

"I promise. I'll see ya in a few days k?"

"Okay, bye Ray, my sincere apologies about your cousin." then I hung up the phone, almost crying. It was too much for even me.

*LINE*

We had to leave for Zaygen's place like, directly after I got off the phone. Evidently I was on the phone for longer than I figured.

When I got there, Bug had some stuff for me to try on, a lot of clothes. Yeah, we started out trying on six bags of clothes, and like, 90% of them were yeses. Well, we decided it proper for me to face my new-found fear, and go to skateland.

My fear got worse when we got there, and I felt the same exact chill as last time. And what do you think that means? Yup, _she_ was there again, acting all friendly as if she had the right to talk to me at all.

"Hey friend." Lauren said, "Meet my BF."

"Ya ex, and I'm not your friend." I answered, I could tell my legs and hands were shaking, even though I'd lost the feeling in them.

"Whatever!" Great come-back huh? "Well where's yours?"

"None of your business." I said, gaining confidence. "BTW, you have no right to be within two miles of me!"

"Well then leave me alone bitch." oh hell no!

"Floozy! He may be your BF, for tonight anyways!"

Let's just say Lauren 'didn't specifically appreciate my comment' and smacked me. She got a pretty little ban from skate land for life, ha, and I actually got to choose the songs and games for that session! It was pretty cool.

Thanksgiving weekend 11-27

Today was our last day in Gillette, so Zaygen and I figured we'd go to a movie. We went to see the first half of Breaking Dawn, and saw some old friends there. When the word 'imprint' came along, I started to think, I've imprinted on Buck, I just wondered if he'd done the same as me. Well we got out alive, and the ride home to ND after was brutal! I was pissed royally when Anthony kept turning the radio up too loud.

I dozed off and had like, THE best dream I've ever had.

DREAM SEAQUENCE!

stood up, not knowing where I was. What I did know was that I was under a disco ball in a really pretty long white dress. Memory by Barbara Streisand was playing softly, that's when I recollected the place I was, Skateland. I was on the skate floor, right in the middle where the disco ball shone, blue light hitting the glass squares perfectly.

_Midnight, not a sound from the pavement_

The only thing missing from this fantasy was Buck, speaking of which, Buck appeared in the skate floor entrance, wearing a black tux and a red velvet eye patch to match his red velvet bow tie. God he looked handsome, he walked up and took me in his arms. We were dancing without a word, floating over the dance floor, and I didn't even know the steps (indicating the fact that it was a dream).

_Touch me! It's so easy to leave me_

_ All alone with the memories, of my days in the sun_

"I love you Suzy cue." Buck said, holding me closer.

_When the don comes, tonight will be a memory too_

"Kiss me." I managed to squeak out.

_And the wind, will live again_

_ daylight, I must wait for the sunrise_

"Gladly." Buck laughed, leaning in towards me. Then…

END DREAM SEAQUENCE

"Hey, Asia! Wake up! Dude we're at the Quick-Stop." Shannon woke me up right at the very best part of my dream. I will most likely never see Buck in a tuxedo again in my entire life. He'll probably only wear one to our wedding, or prom.

"Okay, I'm up." I said, almost opening the door (Stopping upon realizing the car was still on the road in motion).

"Well we're just goanna get a snack and use the restroom." That's worth being woken up from the single best dream I've ever had? Wow.

11-28

Okay, I was ecstatic when I saw the guys again, especially because today wasn't looking up. I was late to school that day, but Buck waited at my locker for me.

"Barrett!" I half yelled, running up to him from a short distance.

"Oh, Suzy cue!" he hugged me back. Okay, I could just tell by his cologne that he'd seen Ray. He was wearing Tim McGraw Designer scent, (my favorite) and only Ray knew I liked that smell.

"What is your problem dude?" Megan M asked me from behind. I looked back, seeing we'd drawn a crowd.

I slicked back my now messed-up hair whilst saying, "What? Go on now, disperse! Disperse!"

They all stared at me until Brock said, "Yeah, uh, what does 'disperse' mean?" he even pronounced it wrong.

"It means mind your own business and get lost! …Really that's what it means, look it up." I answered.

"Whatever, China Goat." Oh _hell_ no!

"Shut up Broccoli, before I steam you!" I said, my face turning redder.

"Yeah like you could do _that_, little one!" he pressed his thumb on my head, like I was a little girl. "An innocent little girl like you."

I moved his thumb off of my head calmly, thinking about my awesome come-back, "Dude, please. I've got more dick in my personality than you have in your pants!" I placed my hands on my hips, Brock was speechless.

*LINE*

"Oh my God!" Megan M said, shocked out of her mind at my story.

"Yeah, I just hope he doesn't have _enough_ dick to tell on me, or else I'll beet him down next time. I only hope-"

"Asia Lamb, and Ray Conroy to the office please, thank you." the lady on the intercom said, yep, I was sooo deceased.

The room erupted with. "Ooooh!" and "Busted!" witch scared me even worse.

*LINE*

"Whatever it is, I didn't do it!" Ray said upon entering the guidance counselor's office.

"Oh, it's nothing like that." the lady with the Barbie-doll smile said, "Have a seat you two." she gestured to the seats in front of her desk. "Now Raymon, can I call you Ray?" the lady said, dumb school counselors, I still have a grudge from the fifth grade.

"Call me whatever you want." Ray said. "Just don't call her China, she'll kill ya." just like him to crack a joke.

"Well Raymon, I understand you have a hard time getting around." the lady said, still smiling.

Ray's face flushed white, "What are you saying? You want to put me in different classes? Special handicapped classes? I get around just fine!" he looked very serious, so, unlike himself.

"Well, we do want to put you in special classes, fit to your _special needs_, shall we say?" Her smile faded for a moment, then came right back.

"I want to see a lawyer." Ray said. After sixteen seconds of the lady's stunned silence, he left the room.

"Why did you bring me in here huh? To humiliate him not only by himself, but with his best friend? What kind of a sick person are you? 'Special needs'? you make it sound like he's retarded!" I was raising my voice a little, as well as standing up.

"Honey, sit down please." Oh _**hell **_no! She did not just call me honey! Listen, I'll clear something up right now, I hate people who call me honey. Well, unless their saying it how a southern person does, or an old person.

"Don't call me that! And FYI, Ray is just within the limits that make his being a normal student okay, if you put him in different classes, we have a serious law suet!" Now I was fricking pissed off! "His cousin has cancer, and now you're trying to do _this_? You must be daft!"

"Asia, sit down!" the lady said, I was obviously right, that'd be why she was yelling at me. "You don't know what's going on here, we've made cuts, we need the space in our classrooms. Ray needs to be in those classes or we'll be over crowded." she explained.

My blood ran hot, "What? Give me one good reason not to hit you right now! Apart from the fact I could get in a lot of trouble."

"I realize it's not right Hun, but it had to be done. I mean, we _could_ keep him in regular classes, if we put Ricky in remedial classes." I almost hit the fucking whore.

"What in the hell? He's one of the highest GPA's in school!"

"I know, but he _is_ autistic. Isn't he?"

"Um, no! he isn't! If you want to put Ray in other classes, fine! I'll see you in court!" with that, I stormed out of the office, making my way to the girl's room. I cried it out in the bathroom until I heard the bell, I composed myself, and headed to second period.

The rest of the day was hell, today was the fricking worse Monday in the history of Mondays! I got in a big old brouhaha with Megan D in gym, I couldn't focus the whole rest of the day, and in science we had a quiz! God I hate this week already!

11-29

Have you ever felt like there's a sign there on your back that says, "Don't mind if you kick me, seems like everybody has." Song quote! Yeah, that's how it happened today. Everything went from bad to worse, and just when I thought they couldn't get worse than that, they did!

Megan's still mad at me for being mad at her, Sid got sick with some kind of high ass fever (He's in the hospital), and Brock just won't quit with his being a jackass. Now I'm being a bitch, nagging on and on about how my life sucks, but I just can't help it.

By the end of the day I'd been trampled, kicked, nagged, and sick to my stomach. Ray wasn't at school, Diego was anxious all day long, Crash and Eddie hardly said a word, and the worst part is, Cassie is also depressed. The end of the day, Science Class, was particularly embarrassing.

"This girl right here," Sierra started, pointing at me, "Look at her, she's got big boobs." oh my fricking god! (I don't even need to say it, but I will.) Oh hell no!

My face was red, I tell you what! "Uh…" there were six boys right next to us, who dispersed and started giggling about it some ways away. Buck growled and cursed and clicked his tongue. He seemed to be really angry, all day he had been.

"Okay, okay settle down everyone. We have five minutes, sit down and quietly talk amongst yourselves." Misses Polivka chimed in.

*LINE*

After school we went to the hospital in Williston to see Sid, the poor thing. The doctors say he has a simple fever, but he'll be much better in just about two weeks. His temp was well above 100 degrees, so he only got to see u cause he kept bugging the nurses.

"How's S-" I elbowed Diego in the stomach before he could say 'Sid', "How's Ricky?" he asked in a choked voice, apparently I'd elbowed him lower than I'd figured.

"Shit! Shit shit shit! Omigod, sorry D!" my face was as red as a Coke can.

"It's okay, Suzan." oh god, he was sooo not okay.

"How about we keep you guys posted, just in case this guy here needs medical help." Buck joked.

"Or if he catches Sid's disease." Eddie threw in.

"Yeah, he's probably got some kind of flesh-eating thingy!" Crash insinuated.

"No, it ain't nothing like that." the nurse said, "He just has a real bad flu, and we've collected the information that he has a week immune system. He could have gotten a bad disease if we hadn't gotten him checked in when we did."

"But is he okay?" Diego reiterated. No matter what the big kitten said, he still cared about Sid just as much as any of us.

"Yes. Rick will be just fine, and he asked to see y'all because he wanted to make sure y'all didn't worry 'bout him." the nurse replied.

"Well, can we see him?" Manny asked hastily, "Ricky should be expecting us shouldn't he?"

"Right this way." the lady walked us to the room where Sid was. She made small talk on the way to the room. She asked us about the whole, you-guys -look-nothing-alike thing, and we had to explain the whole 'they're adopted' thing for the millionth time.

"RICKY!" Peaches said (well… shrieked) happily, running to Sid's hospital bed. Sid smiled, he was pale, and really sweaty… he looked like crap, really.

"Okay, I'll leave y'all to the visiting, just give me a shout if ya need anything." the nurse said, closing the door behind her.

"Hey you guys." Sid greeted us with a smile and a wave.

"How ya feeling, buddy?" I asked, going over to where Sid and Peaches were. I had a group hug with them and felt sooo sorry for Sid, he wasn't even cold, but he was shivering.

"I'm feeling better." he was lying through his teeth.

"Really?" Diego paused, giving Sid a once-over, "Really?"

"Okay, okay. I feel like crap, I just don't want you to worry, I'll be better in a few weeks." he waved it off, giving a forced grin, then he looked at Diego, "Diego! Come on over here." he opened his arms wide, looking for a hug.

I looked at Diego like, 'you have no choice', "Hey, buddy-" he was cut off, the wind knocked out of him by the hug.

"I'll be right back," Diego said, hiding his face (Not hiding the tears from me) as he left the room.

"What's wrong with him?" Sid asked.

"Well I don't know; it could have something to do with the fact that you're in the hospital, or it could be that you're smiling about it like I gave you cake!" I said, still sitting with him and Peaches.

"Oh, well… I don't know a good come-back to that. Just give me like, half an hour k?" still smiling like I gave him cake!

"Sure thing, buddy." I said, "Well, I'm gonna go check on Diego."

"How do you know where he is?" Buck asked.

"I don't, just, remember how we even got here in the first place?" I gestured to the amulet on my neck. "I'll use that. Okay, BRB."

Well I found Diego, without the amulet. He was in the waiting room on the first floor, he'd left a message with the nurse at the desk saying, "If it's Cranston or Eddie, send them back and bring Suzan. P.S. I am in the first floor waiting room." pretty specific huh?

"Diego! Dieeego!" I called, then I saw him, he wiped his eyes, trying to hide the fact that he was crying from me. "There you are. Are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine." he turned away from me.

"Can't fool me tough guy, I know you're worried just like the rest of us. He's just sick, we know he'll be okay." I assured him.

"I know he's gonna be okay. He's just so happy about it, god damn it why does he have to be so happy about everything!" he said, raising his voice a little. I sat down next to him, wondering what else there was to do but give a hug.

"I know, I got red eyes when he was shaking so." I said, trying to comfort him, "It's just a flu, he'll be okay."

"Okay, alright. Just tell 'm I'll be up in a minute." he answered softly.

"I will. They're all worried, so you should be up soon."

"Okay."

*LINE*

Okay, I got pissed when we got home, cause we had to go to Mathew's house. I will be getting up early so, no more lap-top tonight!

11-30

So today was a common swap between happy and pissed for me. One thing that went right for me was, Megan came around. During Geo she turned to me and had a big grin on her face, she said, "I'm mean." then we both burst out laughing. That's our way of saying sorry and making up. That whole 'I'm mean' thing is now our privet joke.

I got pretty damn pissed in English class if you want the truth. Brock wouldn't leave me alone, and Megan M was only adding to the problem. Well I got happy again for about (counting lunch) two hours. English was okay when Mrs. Dwyer told us we were starting with our writing today.

During study hall, I did the almost singular thing that relieved my stress. I went into the library, and just browsed my favorite section, fiction. Stress is a bitch, and the fiction section is the awesome aunt Joanie who wards off the bitch. That was not a very good analogy, but still.

Well the part that pissed me off later was, yet again, gym class. Not only did Brock bug me to death, but he wasn't even on my team! Well another thing that got me really pissed is, DRAMA IN THE LOCKER ROOM! Riley called Mackenzie a bitch, so she got in trouble. God, what trash talk and bad-mitten can lead to. Now I wasn't involved, but it still pissed me off.

Well, I guess today wasn't all that bad, we _did_ go see Sid again.

"Hey my bad mammal jammals!" Sid greeted us happily. "How's life?"

"Great, how's hospital food?" Eddie asked, we'd told him hospital food was terrible, just gross.

"Eh, so so." he made a grossed-out face.

"We told you so." The twins said in unison. "Jinx!" they slapped each others' knees. That was one of the _other_ things that got me pissed, Sophie and I used to do that.

"I know, I know. Hey, karaoke sister!" oh, that made me down right depressed! "How 'bout a song?"

Buck looked at me with his heart-melter, guess he wanted me to sing too. "Okay." I started clapping out the beat, as did the rest of the people in the room,

_ "I used to think maybe you loved me, now baby I'm sure_

_ And I just can't wait 'till the day that you knock on my door_

_ Now every time I go for the mail box, gotta hold myself down_

_ Yeah I just can't wait 'till you right me you're coming to town_

_ Alright now_

_ I'm walking on sunshine, whoa_

_ I'm walking on sunshine, whoa_

_ I don't want you back for the weekend, not back for the day_

_ Yeah baby I just want you back and I want you to stay-"_

Our song was interrupted by the nurse with the blonde hair and mega-blue eye shadow, "Excuse me y'all," she said, "Could ya keep it down, we got a cancer patient in the next room."

My face flushed white, did she mean...? No. Ellis lives in California.

"Excuse me ma'am," I said, following her out of the room. "Ma'am, who's the kid in the next room?"

"Well, that would be," she checked her clip-board all business-like, "That is Ellis Conroy."

"Jesus." I muttered under my breath. "Does he have a visitor with him?" my voice was weak, so were my legs.

"Yes, his cousin and parents are with him." The lady said.

"Thank you. May I go in and see Ellis?" I asked slowly.

"Certainly," She opened the door to the room next to Sid's, and continued with, "Mister Conroy?"

"Yes?" all three guys said at once.

"Ellis, you have another visitor." she closed the door behind me.

"Hi." I said, entering the room.

"Well hello." Ray said, looking me over.

"I heard you were in here." I said. "And I haven't had the pleasure of meeting Ellis." I looked at Ellis.

"H-hi." Ellis said, smiling at me.

"Hello, I'm Asia." I said, Shaking Ellis' hand.

"I'm E-Ellis." he said back.

"How'd you know we were here?" Ray asked (seemingly pissed).

"Oh, S- Ricky's in the next room, E-coli ya know." I said, lying big-time about the whole 'E-coli' thing. "Come on, we'll go see him." I waved him out of the room with me.

Well, that went over pretty awkward. I don't even want talk about it, sooo Hast La vista baby!


	3. Chapter 3

December

12-1

Today was also a juggle between happy and pissed, but I don't want to talk about the bad anymore. All it seems to do is make things all kinds of worse. Well, on the plus side of things, I had a nice laugh in science class.

Today in science, we did a lab with Jell-O and pineapple, testing the effects of enzymes on other things.

"Today we'll be working with pineapple chunks, gelatin, and small plastic cups." Misses Polivka informed us. "Just fill in the blank spaces on these papers."

The funny part was watching Buck's face when misses Polivka said the words, 'Pineapple chunks'. he went all pale and starting to sweat.

She handed us some worksheets with things on 'm like, 'What is your hypotheses?' or 'Why is it that you think that?' and the instructions for the lab we would do. I got mine finished first, so I could talk to my 'pregers teach', as Tina would call her. I went to the front when everybody was finished and talking.

"Miss Polivka." I said, grabbing her attention.

"Yes?"

"See, Barrett is allergic to pineapples," I explained, "he gets a bad rash, and sometimes hives." I tried reading her mind, but I couldn't for some odd-ass reson.

Well, I saved Buck from that assignment, but he still had to do the worksheet.

12-2

So Friday could have gone better, so what? I was focused on one thing, trying to get through Friday without once saying, "Silence! I kill you!" or "You know what? I'm pissed." and I did! Well I did say, "Silence! I kill you!" to Megan M, once, she called me China Goat, witch royally pisses me off.

I didn't get to talk to any of the guys much in the morning. Mostly because I was pretty pissed in the morning; the other night, Anthony woke me up at three A.M., hence me being pretty grumpy.

Lunchtime was one rare chance that I got to sit alone with Buck. Well, alone meaning with other friends besides Tina, Cassie, or the guys. Well my other friends (including Brittany Wilson, Brittany Forman, Ashley, Sydney, and kamery.) were all over Buck's case about girl stuffs. They asked him about England, what his favorite color was, what kinds of TV shows aired in England, things like that. A few times, the girls just asked him to say random things with his accent so they could giggle about it. He seemed sooo uncomfortable with all of that girl craziness.

"So, did you have to learn all about British history, like their plans in the revolutionary war?" Kamery asked, she didn't seem to be flirting, unlike some of the others.

"Yes, it's a lot different than here, we learned about what we planned to do, and some things didn't go as planned. I, personally, think it's good that we lost the war. I mean, really, it gave us a chance to get over ourselves and learn not to start shit like Germany." Buck answered, he must've actually paid attention when we had the mind helmet session.

"Wow, that's exactly what I was thinking! Germany just loves to start shit." Brittany Wilson said.

"At least Canada minds their own damn business." I said.

*LINE*

Well, later wasn't _that_ bad. We checked our science projects on the effects of enzymes. Turns out, fresh pineapple chunks screw up the Jell-O working correctly.

*LINE*

Later mom said we had to go to Mathew's place, that wasn't even semi fun. I got thrown into a shower, fully clothed! So I had to change, twice.

12-3

"Buck!" I said, falling into my very understanding boyfriend's arms. I was fed up with today, (not cause I was angry, just bored) and just too happy to see him. I had a good time, I was just missing him something terrible, so I called and said I was using the amulet to come see him.

"How's my Suzy cue?" he asked, hugging me.

"I'm, I…" I didn't say anything else.

"So that's how you're doing? Well, come with me, we'll listen to some CDs or something. Oh, I have a surprise for you." he guided me into the family room, "I think you'll like this," he opened the door.

"Sid!" I half yelled, I was never so happy to see that boy before.

"Hi Suzy!" Sid said, his loveable lateral lisp showing greatly.

"God, I'm so happy to see you!" I said, giving him a big bear hug.

"Yeah, it's like we're all family huh?" Sid suggested.

"Oh my gosh, I just had an idea!" I used the amulet to bring my computer there. "How would you two like to meet my cousins?"

"Sounds great love." Buck said.

"K, I'll get a Skype channel up and running." I logged on to my computer, then set up the Video Chat room. Next I called Cara, the older of my two cousins, and told her to get on the video chat so I could introduce her to my friends, and hot BF.

*LINE*

"Hey CC!" I said, hearing my other Cousin Annie asking her what was up in the Background. "Hey Annie BB!"

"Asia!" Annie said happily, coming into the room to see me.

"Hey Cara, Annie. Hey listen, I got somebody a want ya'll to meet."

"Okay," Cara said with a wink.

"Who is it Asia?" Annie asked, her sweet little southern-accented voice was so high, so cute, it reminded me of Peaches.

"It's these guys!" I said, turning the computer towards the boys.

"Hi!" The all four said in unison. I laughed out loud.

"Asia, my sister, I'm dying to know, witch one are you dating?" Cara asked.

"This one right here." I kissed Buck on the cheek, "This is Barett."

"Hi!" Sid Waved, "I'm Ricky."

"Hi Ricky!" Annie said, waving back at Sid, "I'm Annie, and my sister's name is Cara." she pointed to Cara.

"Oh god, you guys. This better be pretty friggin' important. You woke me up, and it's only like, noon." Diego said, yawning and scratching his head, his hair looked like a rat's nest.

"Hey hot mess, wanna meet my cousins." I gestured to the lap-top.

"Sure. Hey, what's up small children?" Diego said, sitting cross-legged next to us on the floor. "I'm Diego."

"Hi, I'm Cara and this is Annie."

"Hey, what's with the group of people around the computer?" Crash said out of nowhere.

"We're video-chatting with my cousins." I explained.

"Cool! I wanna meet your cousins Suze!" Eddie said, popping up next to his twin.

"This is Cara and Annie." I said, just then, I remembered our cousin-nana-aunt-uncle-mom-brother-sister trip to Disney World in six days.

"I'm Eddie,"

"And I'm Cranston."

"We're Twins." The boys said in unison.

"I'm goanna get some Orange juice, Rick, buddy, you gotta take that supplement the doctors gave us." Diego said.

"Right, k." They both got up and went into the kitchen.

"Are all of ya'll brothers? Cause ya'll look nothing alike." Cara said.

"We're all adopted, all except Emily." Buck explained.

"Oh, I see. Hey Asia, how excited are you that we get to go to Disney World? Six days left!" Cara said.

"Hey Asia," Annie said, she sounds so sweet when she says my name. she says it like "Age-a" it's so cute. "Where's Anthony?"

"He ain't here. We're at these guys' house and he's with mom at her friend Mathew's house.

"Oh, I see. So what else-" she was cut off by a loud noise and a cuss word from the kitchen on my end of the video chat.

"I'll go check on them." I said, getting up. "You guys converse."

"Wait! What does that mean?" Crash asked.

"It means talk!"

*LINE*

"Shit, shit! Double shit!" Diego said, holding a napkin over his thumb.

"What is it now?" I almost stepped on Sid, who was passed out on the floor.

Diego showed me a broken glass covered in blood and orange juice. Then his bleeding thumb. "Damn it!" I said, "Eddie! Cranston! Barrett! Get in here and help me really quick!"

"I don't need help." Diego said, the moron's pride will literally kill him one of these days, I swear to god.

"Uh, yeah ya do, and Sid needs help too." I checked to see if he was breathing, or had any glass puncturing his skin.

"What is- Oh my god!" Crash said, Eddie looked grossed-out.

"Buck, you help Diego. Crash, help me with Sid, we gotta get him into the living room. Eddie, go in the living room and entertain my cousins with your personality. Go!" then we all got to work.

By far the best part of today was watching Sid teach the girls how to do the Sid dance, once he came to.

12-5

All that went through my mind today was, _How in the hell will I be able to do all of this homework? _or_ How in the hell will I cope in Florida for a whole nine days without my buds? _And it sure didn't help that we had to go ice skating, witch I suck at.

Well, as for the good points, this morning Buck was wearing one of those special hats with mistletoe hanging from it. Also on the bright side, I don't have all that much homework after all! Another good thing is, Brock had in-school suspension, that made me happy. The funniest thing about that, though, is _what _he got busted for. Brock pantsed Jamison, I laughed out loud when Cassie told me that.

We started packing for the trip to Florida today; mom had to tell us what was presentable and what wasn't. Only about half of the things that I had originally picked out made the cut. I was, however, able to sneak in the shirt of Buck's that I sleep in.

12-5

All that went through my mind today was, _How in the hell will I be able to do all of this homework? _or_ How in the hell will I cope in Florida for a whole nine days without my buds? _And it sure didn't help that we had to go ice skating, witch I suck at.

Well, as for the good points, this morning Buck was wearing one of those special hats with mistletoe hanging from it. Also on the bright side, I don't have all that much homework after all! Another good thing is, Brock had in-school suspension, that made me happy. The funniest thing about that, though, is _what _he got busted for. Brock pantsed Jamison, I laughed out loud when Cassie told me that.

We started packing for the trip to Florida today; mom had to tell us what was presentable and what wasn't. Only about half of the things that I had originally picked out made the cut. I was, however, able to sneak in the shirt of Buck's that I sleep in.

12-7

The by far best part of today was trying to teach Buck, Diego, and Sid how to ice-skate. Now the lovable lisper, Sid, did pretty well until he had to stop. Diego was way clumsy, and hated it all. Buck, of coarse, went head-long doing everything he hadn't thought through once. As for _my _skating, I was pretty good without the chair, I only fell once.

Ray sure wasn't able to skate, however he could DJ. He played all kinds of good music, which aspired to a lot of figure skating, and 'spirited' hockey games. He and Megan's song played probably about three times, not that I'm complaining, it _is _a good one anyways, Lips Of An Angel by Hinder.

Well, all in all today was alright in my book.

12-8

My eyelids fluttered open; it was six-thirty A.M. I knew today was the day we'd leave to Florida, so I noted how my room looked, how the covers felt around my feet, and the smell of my Enchanted Mist scentsy. I got up and woke Anthony up, he was passed out on the couch; he didn't put up a fight like usual, just whined a lot.

Well today was real happy at the beginning, but sad at the end. In the beginning, I sat next to Tina, and her cousin Sam, plus a few friends of Sam's. We didn't have homeroom today, so we all had to go to the commons area where we all usually eat lunch.

I almost didn't feel like seeing Buck, it would be a tear-soaked hello, so to speak. I would think about saying goodbye, and then I'd start crying, or get all sad. He decided for me, though. He came over and covered my eyes from behind and whispered, "Guess who?"

"Hey, babe." I said, turning around into an unexpected kiss.

"Hey, get a room or at least away from the security cams." Sam groaned. "No PDBFGFA."

"No what?" almost everybody said.

"No Public Displays of Boyfriend/Girlfriend Affection." Sam explained.

"Oh." we all said, followed by muttered, "oh, I see." or "that makes sense I suppose."

*LINE*

We had to get all of our crap in the white work truck and some other stuff in our backpacks before we left for the Bismarck AirPort. We all have different ways of dealing with travel; mine is to stay the hell away from everyone else and do what I am told. Also, taking all kinds of crap from everybody else is inevitable. Anthony's is being a miscreant and embarrassing mom, which brings us to our next subject, mom's dealing method. Mom's way of dealing with travel, as far as _I_ know, is trying not to yell, and laughing nervously.

When we got to the hotel, I took a hot shower, and checked my messages on ; I had a lot having to do with Buck. Some people from the Ice Age fan club added me as a friend and put me on their watch list, including Megan D.

12-19

My day went awesome in the beginning. I freaked out when I saw the guys, crazy giddy man. Buck got one big kiss on the mush and a hug that could've lasted forever.

The next guys we tracked down were the twin tornadoes. Crash and Eddie were going out of there ways to see who could get to me first, (Eddie) and tripping over themselves as they went.

"Suzy!" they yelled in unison.

"Hey guys!" I gave them each a kiss on the cheek and hugged them in a group, "I missed ya'll sooo much!"

"Let's go find the others." Buck suggested.

*LINE*

"Ricky!" I half yelled, running up to Sid. I almost called him by his real name, but remembered that we were in a public place.

"Suzy!" He gave me a big bear hug, "You're back! We all missed you."

"I missed you all too." I gave him another squeeze and a kiss on the cheek, like I had done the twins.

"Hey Suzy!" Diego came from down the hall. "What's up guys?"

"You're no exception, D." I hugged him tightly, and kissed him on the cheek. I know Diego hates hugs and stuff, but I was excited to see them all.

"Hello! Ray still exists." Ray came rolling down the hall.

"Hey Ray old buddy old pal!" I went over and hugged him and kissed him on the cheek as I had done the other guys.

"Hello! Megan, and Tina still exist!" Megan M came walking down the hall, Tina followed.

"Megan, you're back!" I hugged her and the girls, and then she explained how there were complications with her being in the Worriers books.

"Since they're still being written," Megan explained, "I can't be there, because the writer doesn't know about me."

I looked at Ray with worry, "Does that mean…?"

"No, the guys are replaced, since they died in their world, with new guys." he looked at the guys with wide eyes, "Same characters, different realism."

*LINE*

Later we played floor hokey in gym class, and I sucked ass. Not kidding. I had to switch teams from blue to yellow because we needed to be equally matched, and beforehand the yellow team was winning. When I got on the yellow team, we were losing big time.

Megan M blamed me for the yellow team's loss, but Sid was nice about it, like he always is.

"I think you did great Suzan." Sid told me after the game.

"Ah, thanks buddy." I answered.

"Hey, look. It's China and the spit storm!" Some blonde dude walked by us, his jersey said PHILL in big bold letters.

*LINE*

Later, after science, the same blonde boy made the biggest mistake of his life. He walked up behind me while I was talking to Nicky and a few other girls, and grabbed my behind.

"Hey, how's the skirt?" he said with a devilish grin.

I picked him up by his shirt and slammed him against the locker doors. Then I held my fist an inch from his chin. "You want a knuckle sandwich asshole?" then I kneed him someplace you **do not **wanna be kneed. "That's for grabbing me," I let him down hard and slapped him, "that's for Ricky," then I pushed him to the ground, "and that's for good measure!"

"Holey shit!" I heard Megan D's voice behind us, "You go girl!"

*LINE*

"Come on Asia!" mom was calling me from the living room.

"I'm coming!" we had to go to someone's house for dinner. "I'm ready."

"Gag me! Think you've got enough perfume? You smell like a French hooch." she looked grossed-out.

"It's the same way with cigarettes." I muttered, putting on my white shoes.

"Easy smart-ass." mom said, putting her brown work-coat on.

12-20

Crime a niddly (if you don't know what that means ask someone else 'cause I'm too pissed to explain it), are some girls airheads? I think they are. The reason behind my thinking this is, at lunch the ALL girls wanted to sit with Buck, just so they could hear him talk British.

"So what is it that men in England and Britten and such call department stores?" one blonde (unnaturally blonde) girl asked.

"Well, men's stores, we call haberdasheries. My mum never mentioned women's stores to me." Buck explained, he looked uncomfortable.

The pin-heads tittered amongst themselves when they saw me approaching. "Hello girls, Barrett." I said, grabbing a seat right next to Buck.

"Hello darling." Buck kissed me on the cheek. "How are you today?"

"I'm good, and how's my number one?" I smiled at the sneering faces of the Missies.

"Oh, love. I adore your American speech terms." Buck answered, playing along with what I'd trained him to say in this type of situation.

"As we were saying," the bottle-blonde continued, "When do you eat crumpets with your tea?" ignoramus.

"Usually in the early morning or noon-time, in the evening we usually enjoy cookies or rather any other desert than crumpets." he looked at me with his famous heart-melter grin, "I have a question for you American girls that I cannot seem to figure out all on my own, if you would. What in the world is so attractive of this Bieber fellow?"

The girls all giggled, "Oh, nothing." the only brunette in the group said. "He just has that something." gross.

"I didn't realize the two of you were still dating." one girl said out of nowhere, "I thought you dumped her." wait for it… Oh _**HELL**_ no!

"Being gentlemen, I'll take that in the best way possible." Buck started, looking eight times as mad as me. "Yes madam, we are still happily together." he lifted up my left hand, showing off my ring to a bunch of horrified girls.

"Well… we'd better get to our table." the bottle-blonde bimbo said, with that, the pack left for their spot- their den in the far corner.

(Author: Ray: Hey guys, it's me, Ray and I'm _sooo_ pissed that so much shit Asia doesn't know about goes on, good and bad, in this school. So now for something we haven't had in ages! POV from Raymon!)

Later, after lunch, some of the guys were congregating by Buck's locker, talking to him and the others (Sid, Crash, Eddie, and Diego) about, quote, "their girls". And some meat heads _actually_ didn't know that Buck and Asia were dating. The whole shooting match ended in all of the guys, (Buck, Sid, Diego, Crash, and Eddie) including me, getting pissed off.

"So B, dude, which gal did _you_ snatch first?" one kid (unnamed) asked. "You know all the girls are drooling over the new kids."

"Actually, I've been in a relationship with one _gal,_ as you call them, for about two years now. She goes to this school with us." Buck explained.

"Oh? Who is she?" another guy asked.

"Oh, there she is, locker number 58 I believe." he pointed to Asia. "Ah, isn't she stunning?"

"Her?" a blonde kid, I think his name was Phil, ha, Philly from Philly.

"Ha, didn't she kick your ass the other day?" I laughed, Megan had told me about it, but it was hard to believe.

"Uh…" Phil didn't answer.

"Yeah, and I'd gladly do it again." Asia bumped Phil's shoulder with her own as she walked by.

"Yep, that's her." Buck stated proudly, grinning.

"Really? You could do sooo much better, dude." unnamed said.

Buck turned bright red with anger from the neck up, "Excuse me, _Dude -_god I cannot get used to that word- My Suzy is the best I could ever dream of, she's most beautiful, loving, caring, and all-around amazing woman in the entire world." He was getting closer and closer to the unnamed boy, "Make fun of me, make fun of this eye of mine! Make fun of my origin, make fun of my accent! But if you even think of saying another word against my girlfriend, I believe I won't be called a _gentleman_ anymore!" do you see what I mean now? Oh, I was pissed too!

"Hey, dude-" I cut off Phil.

"Listen _Dude_, I may be a cripple but if you try to back this asshole up, I'll kick your ass worse than the _girl_ did!" he kept his mouth shut after that, smart boy. A prick, but smart.

"Dude-" unnamed was cut off again, this time by Buck.

"Do not call me _Dude_, do you even know what it means? In England anyway." Buck asked. All of the guys looked at each other like morons. "It's short for dudeen, a smoking pipe." he gave a thinking expression, then continued with his anger, "Listen, I've had it with people making fun of her! If you want to be a useless cad, do it where we can't hear! Come on lads." with that, Buck stomped away, pissed off as all of us. We all fallowed, and I just flipped the guys off without looking back.

Later, after Buck cooled down and spent some time with Suzan to get his mood in order, I decided that I could stand him after all. I'm not saying we're old chums, I'm just not jealous anymore.

"I respect you." I said when we were alone at the L7, that's the spot in the school's entrance way that kids go after lunch to converse.

"Thanks Ray. You've earned my respect as well." Buck answered, "You know, even when I knew you wanted to punch my lights out, but knew I was doing the right thing, you didn't. And today, you sure told that Phil chap off."

"Yeah, I sure did. And you came up with some pretty good smack talk yourself." I answered.

We both grinned, laughed, and high fived before parting ways for the rest of the day.

12-21

Today my heart got heavier, know why it was heavy? Cause yesterday was basically pick on Asia day. I heard everything the boys said about me in the hall, and Buck was pretty upset about it. Another thing about it that was disappointing was, the fact that Megan M won't leave me alone. Her new nick-name for me is Gee Gee Goody-Goody. Well mine for her happens to be Judy Juvy.

Anyways, no more dwelling on what was bad yesterday, today was sooo much better. One reason behind that is, I found out that I scare the crap out of Phil now, and he flinches when I pretend to almost hit him. Another reason is, the guys all came over to deck the halls with the bro and me.

"I love the holidays already." Crash stated, helping Eddie set the angel on top of the tree.

"Me too." Eddie added.

"Sure is fun Suzy." Sid said happily, tying a bow to the door knob.

"You know something, Sid, I agree." I answered. "How 'bout you Tigey Wigey? Enjoying yourself?" I looked at Diego, who was working on something in the kitchen.

"Hm? Yeah, it's a lot of fun." Diego answered.

"Hey Buck? Buck?" I called, looking to see where he was.

"He's outside Suze." Eddie informed me.

"Oh? What's he doing out there?" I said under my breath as I headed for the door.

Sure enough, Buck was playing with my brother and the neighbor kids on the trampoline. Having a good old time too. He was playing around and tried pulling a weasel move with his human spine, but didn't get hurt, just fell on his butt. Good thing he was on a trampoline.

I giggled, then went back to helping the boys do the Christmas tree.

12-22

Today I had a heart-to-heart with Buck. After watching Because Of Winn Dixie , I decided it was high-time Buck and I got to know each other much better. _Much _better.

"So, what do you want to know, love?" he asked.

I answered with, "Things that interest you, things that scare you, things nobody knows."

"Well," he began, "I have a pathological fear of thunderstorms. Sophie was right. And things that interest me are, you, and adventures, and being in this time. It's weird you know."

"I knew you were afraid of thunder." I said, "Well what scares me would be, heights. Not flying or anything, just being up high without anything holding me up." I smiled, "That's why, well kind of why, I held onto you on the pterodactyl." I blushed. "Things that interest me are, you, art, music, and not sports unless it involves going fast and turning left."

Buck Chuckled, "How about favorite songs, flowers, old movies, books?" he asked.

"Anything sung by Tim McGraw, or really anything country. Flowers, yellow roses with baby's breaths. Old movies, would be Old Yeller, Matilda, and Because Of Winn Dixie. And so far, books would have to be Calla Lilly Ponder, and A Long Time Between Kisses." I answered. "Okay, tell me about your fam."

"My mother was something else, beautiful, smart, an all-around great mum. My father was anything but a weasel, kind and honorable. My sister was an 'independent' young woman. And my twin Mark was- enough said." Buck laughed. "And I know your mum, and your brother, how about your other family?

"My Nana is great, and my great-granny Rosa Lee is something else. You met my cousins…" I told him all about my family, and all the time I was talking, he was listening, it felt good for someone to listen.

12-24

We watched the ice age Christmas special today! I know what you're thinking, HOW? I thought the same thing, but then I called Ray and he told me that that's just a reproduction of the characters, and not to worry about it. Well it was really fun because of how they reacted to the reproductions' actions.

Crash was on the back of the couch, and Eddie was under him. I was in between Eddie and Sid, and Diego was on the far side of Sid. Buck was on the back of the couch a slight ways in between Sid and me.

"Ha, "Something about that mistletoe!" right guys?" Sid repeated, he leaned in towards Diego, who shoved him away, Sid ended up pushed into me, since we were all on one couch.

"Touch me and you're dead." Diego growled.

"Come on buddy, you know it's all in tradition! See, Suzy doesn't mind." Sid kissed me on the cheek, holding the mistletoe over us. I laughed and returned the kiss.

"Oh, _I _do!" Buck shoved Sid over to Diego.

"Come on now, boys. No roughhousing it's Christmas." I said in a whiny, yet warning tone.

"Does that apply to us?" Eddie asked, he and Crash were all tangled up in a knot already.

"Ugh… guess not." I answered, and the boys continued fighting.

"Hey look, Diego's playing with yarn!" My brother pointed out.

The real Diego blushed hard. "It happens to be twine, and it happens to be fun."

12-25

Christmas morning, we opened presents and got things all set up before we invited the guys over, which was my doing.

"Hey mom, can we invite the guys over?" I asked, tying the trash bag up.

"Why?" She asked.

"It's Christmas." I answered. Mom gave me "the look" and a groan, "Just humor me, would you?" I asked, "They're family, that's what this day's all about. Besides, Ray's probably getting them together anyhow."

"Fine, they can come over once this mess is all cleaned up." Mom groaned, "But don't let Sid near the China, and don't let the twins roughhouse near the tree."

"Yay!" I jumped up and down and clapped, damn that made me think of Sophie. "I'll fix up the rooms." I used the magic necklace to tidy up the house, and then blew on it like it was a smoking gun.

"Why can't you do that every day?" Mom asked.

"Because I can't use the forget-me stick on Anthony every day." I joked, he wasn't in the room.

"Well, use that thing to get your buddies over here so I can go back to bed." Mom told me, going back into her room.

"But Manny and Ellie are coming too!" I called after her.

"I'm tiered, you've got a good personality and a magic necklace, use them!" Mom called back.

I groaned really loud, just to make sure she knew I was not amused! Then I got to work, calling Ray and the others. Of course, they showed up two seconds after I'd called them. Literally. They were there in the time it would take you to snap your fingers, for a ninja to snap his fingers!

"Hey y'all!" I said as they entered, all wearing really big sweaters, and PJ pants. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas my mammals!" Sid Called, running up the stairs last, well, him and Peaches.

"Hey, my Sloth! How's it?" I asked, "Merry Christmas."

"I'm great Suze, just getting used to this human body still." he almost tripped, "Now I'm top-heavy instead of having that beer-gut."

"Ha, I know how that is, I no longer have a flexible spine." I cracked my aching back, "Wanna dance-in?" I asked, smiling at the pair.

We all got to talking and laughing and eating, and being a family. Little Peaches was telling funny jokes, but I think mom took the prize.

"Okay, let's say I'm the director of the new ice age film." Mom started, "I decide that in this next one, Scrat does not get the nut, because we need to keep this series going. Well we took a vote with everyone in this film's cast and crew voted yes except one man, one pessimist. Now that one guy was Denis Leary, the voice of Tigey Wigey." Mom looked at Diego and smirked, "And I asked Denis, "Why Did You vote no, why were you the grouch?" and he told me, "I was staying in character.""

We all cracked up at that one, oh big time. Even Tigey Wigey laughed his head off at that one.

"God, Crystal, that was funny even to me!" Diego laughed.

"Asia told me to say it ahead of time." Mom said… busted ^^

"Why ya picking on me?" Diego asked.

"Because everybody already picks on Sid!" I laughed.

"An excellent point!" Sid added.

"Sid? I thought his name was Ricky?" Anthony said, entering the room.

"Shit!" I zapped him with the magic necklace, making him forget the last twenty seconds of history.

"Nice shootin' Tex." Ray commented.

I once again blew on the necklace like a smoking gun.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note: IT HAS BEEN TOO LONG AND I HAVE NO EXCUSE AND I"M SORRY SO HERE YA GO!**

2-16-12

First off, let me say sorry I took too long to get back to this, but there are some things the FBI doesn't let the I.D.C.A. tell other people about... So I can't say anything... Matter of national security... Anyways, long story short, we had to deal with some I.D.C.A. biz in a city that I can't name, and now he guys are gonna have to go back to the ice age until after the movie is out in theaters. They leave in two months, and I don't know what I'll do without Buck for a whole three months! And on top of that, Megan is gonna KILL Diego when she hears he gets a GF in this new movie. And I am gonna KILL Buck if he sees that wretch of a pineapple like he said when he was joking around with me. I know he doesn't mean it, but it still scares me a bit... oh god, I'm losing my mind!

Aside from my insanity (brings back memories, huh?) (First few book titles?), we did get to spend valentines day in LA. We had a day or two left after our time in the unnamed city, so we went riding around in a limo with a few other members of the I.D.C.A. who were from the golden state.

The day Ray told me (Cannot reveal dates, FBI won't let me!) the guys had to leave, I was actually under the assumption that I would have a good day. Nope.

"Hey Asia, come here." Ray motioned for me to follow him into... his locker? It was early, he'd called me there before they turned on the security cameras.

"This better be pretty friggin' important, Ray. Did you set your hair on fire again?" I dragged my feet down the hall towards him.

"Hey, that was _one_ time! And I was a raccoon! It was my tail!" Ray laughed.

"Ya, I remember that, we had to shave it and you got sunburn!" I started laughing.

"...Shut up. Ha, help me with this damn chair, it won't fit!" Ray emphasized by slightly ramming into his locker door in between the words 'won't' and 'fit'.

"Yeah, okay. So, _I'm _the blonde one?" Ray looked confused. "Use your freaking amulet!" I explained.

"Oh, right, duh." Ray used his necklace (The yellow egg-shaped one) to bend the locker bigger. He wheeled himself in, and I followed. Damn. Ray's locker leads to an I.D.C.A. base!

"Whoa! Holey crap!" I said slightly louder that my 'inside voice'. "Whoa... holey Moses! What is all this?" I gesture to all the lights and buttons and big silver boxes that looked like coffins.

"Well, the lights are for mood enhancement of our scientists. And the buttons do a million different things that I do not remember at this instant. Those metal boxes are why I brought you here. And this-" he stopped this tall kid walking by us "-is Gaylord."

The dude he stopped, smiled, and waved.

"He's our TN."

"TN?" I repeated.

"Top Nerd." Ray explained.

"Raymond." Gaylord smiled at Ray. "And your name is?" he looked at me.

"Asia. But I prefer my alias name, Suzan." I grinned. Gaylord flashed a puzzled look at me.

"Asia, the world's largest continent?" he smiled. "Well Suzan, Raymond, come this way and we will explain our logic and reason in the best way possible." Gaylord motioned for us to follow.

"You pronounced it wrong." Ray said. "My name is spelled R-A-Y-M-O-N. Notice how there is no D, Gay."

"Hm. Well, how do you spell your alias name, Suzy?" Gaylord asked.

"S-U-Z-Y." I answered shortly. "Originally spelled differently, but I tweaked it a bit."

"Ah. Well, you are here regarding your assignment to Ice Age. As you may have herd- get it? Herd? Never mind. As you may have heard, they are making another movie. Our organization, as you know, sends kids and teens of all ages into movies, books, and mini-series'. Now, what happened when you and the herd died together, as you already know, is that they entered _our_ world. See, now that the movies are continuing, it's a good thing they know you're really human, and about all of this, because now we're able to make sure they don't mention you or this or anything else to do with the I.D.C.A. whilst in the movie." I cut Gaylord off right there.

"Wait, wait, wait, stop! Ray told me they would make reproductions of the guys to do the movie!" I said with mounting confusion.

"Well, that's what surprised _us_. See, they can't do that if they have been in the human world. The principle that Raymon (I pronounced it right!) told you about is temporarily brainwashing the guys into not remembering you, and then when the movie's over, programming memories of you actually being there into their heads. Now, we have the easier option because we can just tell them to keep their mouths closed at all times during that movie." Gaylord looked at the metal coffins, "Turn into a weasel really quick."

"Um, okay?" I used my necklace to turn Back into my Suzy weasel form. "Aw yeah! I missed _this_ spinal structure!" I twisted up. Ray laughed. Gaylord smiled, straitened his tie, and pulled out a small remote control from his lab coat pocket. He pressed a button and opened a silver coffin a few steps away.

"This is where your human body goes when you turn into your alias." Gaylord explained. "This is where the guys' human bodies will be cared for whilst they're gone."

"So when are they leaving?" I asked, "And why does Buck have to go too? He's not even going to be _in _this movie! I reserched it all week."

"We never know. We must take percautions, just in case. They leave the second of May. So enjaoy your time with them now." Gaylord answered, then smiled, "Don't worry about it Suze, they'll be back when the movie comes out in theaters."

"Okay, cool, nice... is this lighting hurting anybody elses eyes?" I grew tired just standing there, so i asked if we could go, and Ray told me to wait, because he had an important phone call from a movie I'd never heard of.

Ray's phone rang two minutes later, and this is what the conversation was like;

"Hey... Yeah... Yo' punk A$$ pickin' me up? ... Hell no... That's my bitch! Seeya there."

"Pfft, you're such a white boy." i said, rolling my eyes.

"Don't worry about a thing Suze, the guys will come back, probably with a few other friends." Gaylord assured me.

"Yeah, okay, so should I tell them?" I asked.

"Yes, but not right away. Don't stress yourself out, okay?"

"Alright, I'll be okay." then a thought popped into my thinker like a weasel around the mullberry bush! "Wait! _When_ will they be back?"

"July 14th." Gaylord told me, "We would have them back to you the day it comes out, July 13th, but we'll need a day for new-guy orientation. See, it will take a bit to get Shira and Granny and whoever else used to the idea of the human world. Plus, a we'll have to do a mind-helmit session."

"Wait, I'll be in South Carolina then, I have family obligations." I stated worriedly.

"No worries, we'll drop them off there, and when you're done visiting with them, we'll send one of our available informents." Gaylord reassured me.

"OK. One more thing?" Gaylord nodded, "What's the deal with Megan McIntyre? She's in a funk lately and I don't think it has anything to do with her breakup with Diego."

"Oh, we fired her for rude and belidgerant behavior towards other opretives." Gaylord shook his head. "Ah, the doctors said Mikey will never walk again."

"WHAT?!" I yelled.

"Ha! Just kiddin'. She pissed of a few people, including our C.E.O.."

"Thanks for scaring the ever loving shit out of me!" I slugged Gaylord, hard.

"Ouch! Nerds bruis easily!"

We left the minute Ray got off the phone.

2-21

Buck and the gang were pretty upset about having to leave the human world with me and my family, especially Buck. But they were still happy to get back to their roots for a while.

I felt tired all day, weak, decrepit even. It's probably got something to do with the fact that what Gaylord said was buzzing around in my head like an angry bee's nest all night and all day ever since he'd said it! Or maybe it could be that I hadn't eaten a good meal on account of our desperate need to go to the grocery store. We _have_ money, so don't get the wrong idea. It's just that we're busy all the time and don't go too often.

I usually make sure to eat breakfast, but I woke up late and nearly missed the bus for putting on my pants! So I was hungry, big whoop. I made it through the day, but it wasn't easy.

First: English class, all boys, the only two of the gang are Sid and Buck. I had a rough time, all the guys but Sid and Buck are rude and unimaginably sick-minded. Little did _they_ know that my MP3 player wasn't even on when they were saying that stuff. Buck would often snap at them when they'd call me a name, or get all up in my cool-aid, or tell me to buzz off their conversation. And today, it helped.

"Ah, what? I gotta sit by China?" Adrian (Short Adrian) complained. We were all getting new seats and everybody had to be in completely different spots.

"Back off." Buck warned. Man, he sure could look angry and mean if he wanted to.

"Adrian, back off. And if you'd like to switch, you can sit where Barrette is." Mrs. Dwyer (We call her Mrs. Tibo on account of a joke somebody told) chimed in. She's always nice like that.

"Nah, he'd like that too much. They're dating!" _Grow up or grow a pair would ya?_

"I am warning you to back off." Buck reiterated, man he _was_ mad.

"What are you gonna do? You wanna fight about it?"

"Adrian, I'm about ready to send you to the office. Switch with Barrette." Mrs. Dwyer insisted.

Buck and Adrian switched, and as they crossed paths Adrian murmured, "It's okay, the girl's a know it all anyhow." oh no, that _sooo_ hurts my feelings.

Next: Skip a few, forth period and art. Art would be an awesome class if I didn't have to sit next to the stink-faced Missy. She's always acting like she's the boss of everybody, and I hate her! Anyways, it's good though, because I have this class with Diego, Crash, and Eddie.

So we were all making these mosaic thingies, and the boys (Crash and Eddie) sit next to me, along with Diego, so I got to see what they were making.

Crash's was and explosion, a big mushroom cloud. It looked pretty good, too. Eddie's was different, it was a tropical Island with palm trees and stuff. Diego's was huge, gigantic, man. It was a flower, a red rose with a dark green stem and a blue sky background. Mine was a B+A inside a heart with red letters and a yellow background.

After school, Ray told me to report to the base with all the guys present. Gaylord had something to show us, and we needed to be there on time. He said something about orientation, lessons the guys needed to learn, and how we needed to decommission a few of my retired friends. Cassie, Tina, and Megan M all needed to have their memories wiped so that they didn't remember their work as I.D.C.A. agents.

They did of course remember the guys this past few months, though. It's like he filtered their brains of all I.D.C.A. related biz. For example, Megan does remember being Diego's GF, but she just thinks he's another guy on her PEOPLE TO KILL list hanging in her bedroom next to that lye and spheres. * _Shiver *_

"So why are _we_ here again?" Cassie asked, shoving her hands in her pockets.

"Yeah Ray! Why are we here?" Peaches asked excitedly. By the tone in her voice, you could tell she was picking up on her uncles' antics and personality.

"Well, you, your mom and dad, and your uncles are here for a little lesson on how to behave while you're in the ice age for a little while. And Cassie, Tina, and Megan are here for a little... treatment." Ray explained. The girls didn't know the were here to have there memories erased, but he obviously didn't feel too bad about it.

"Treatment?" Meagan scoffed, "What are you gonna do, give us a pink slip?"

"I'll get Mikey." Ray wheeled himself into a room, and came out with three tall, scary-lookin' kids. Two of them were boys, and one was a girl. They were dressed in black suits with name tags saying SECURITY on them.

"Who are these clowns?" Megan growled.

"In case you get any ideas about hurting any of us." Ray answered, gaining a very un-Ray serious face.

Megan kicked Ray in the, uh... and got all red faced. The two dudes held her arms down while the girl handcuffed her.

"Does the word 'paralyzed' mean anything to you? How about 'numb nuts'?" Ray grinned, but immediately regained his not-Raymon look. "You three are here for your _final_ session with the mind-helmets."

"Hey! Look! It's Gaylord!" I announced, "Guys, let's go meet him. Cassie, Tina, Megan... stay with these guys!" I grabbed peaches by the hand and lead her to the silver boxes, where Gaylord was writing on his clipboard.

"Suzy! How's my favorite agent?" Gaylord welcomed me with open arms.

I gave him a quick arm-around-shoulder, then introduced him to the guys.

"Gaylord, this is Manny, Ellie, Peaches, Crash, Eddie, Diego, Sid, and Buck." I looked slightly up at Buck, who was a little taller than me, and smiled. "Guys, this is Gay... lord! Gay-lord, sorry." I reddened.

Gaylord chuckled, "You crack me up, Suze." he grinned, "So I heard through a little bird that you two tied the knot? That must be why she was so distraught the other day." _Damn you Gay!_

We didn't know what to say to that. So we just followed Gay into a room with an over-head projector. There he ran us through some stuff about how they weren't allowed to even say my name while they were in the ice age, or let on that they knew me, or do anything else to make the public suspicious.

"Also," Ray chimed in, "When you get back, you may have some people coming back with you, so we'll have to keep them here for a day."

"Yes Ray, I was getting to that." Gay said irritably. "and when they are dropped off, Suzan, just tell your relatives or whoever that they need to stay over for a while, I'm sure you'll figure it all out the week of."

After a little more lecturing (I didn't pay attention) we left to go back home.

2-25

"Ra-ay!" I whined, "What the fuck? You said Saturday was my day off."

"What did you have to do today?" Ray chuckled, leading me into another portal to an I.D.C.A. base.

"I had a few previous engagements." I muttered.

"OK. We'll be done soon. Just get the guys here, we need to go through some combat training for when they go back to the ice age."

"Okay, but I get to beat up the dummy with _your_ face on it." I teased.

"Ouch, that stung." Ray laughed.

"When exactly are they leaving again?" I asked, "I want to be ready, you know, so I don't get all bummed."

"Sorry, can't tell you the exact date or time."

"Ah, what? Why not?" I whined.

"The boss 'll get pissed." Ray said, "They think when this kind of situation happens, people will skip town with the characters like Lenny did with the cat in the hat." He shivered, "Why we recruited him in the first place is beyond me."

"Gross. Anyways, you know I won't do that dude!" I argued. "Come on Ray!"

"Sorry, I can't." Ray reiterated. "Cat. In. The. Hat!"

"Okay, okay, god." I said, disappointed.

"Bring them here, we'll get started and-" Rays phone rang. "Hello? …Damn it! What happened? …Fuck! Why?! …Who? …how many times does he have to die before he's dead?! … Son of a bitch, I'm on my way …You do realize I have their agent, who happens to be married to one of them right next to me! She'll cripple me worse! ...Bye."

"What. The. Heck?"

"Soto's back."

"What?! How many times does he have to be killed?!" I yelled.

"He's in the human world, and he has the guys held captive!"

"Shit!"

"I know!"

"Let's go get 'm!" I started to transport myself, but Ray stopped me. "Dude, what the hell?!" I could feel my face getting redder.

"We can't just show up! He's holding them at knife point!" Ray said. And you don't even know where they are!"

I was terrified, "What do we do? I'll kill him!"

"Not yet! Not yet. We have to be smart about this."

"To hell with being smart! Nobody messes with my herd, my husband, and my job without getting blood on the carpet!" I was seeing red again. First time in a while.

"Save your unbridled rage for when we're actually killing him!"

"I'll snap his neck... Rip his limbs off and burn his torso... Feed his organs to a shark and tell him it's chicken..." I was saying under my breath. "Scar-up his face worse... Neuter him with a rusty spoon..."

"Damn it, you're demented. We should have sent you into Scream instead."

"Call it _protective." _I growled. "Now where do I find the spoon and the dude?"

"You know, I'm glad I'm crippled. So now if I piss you off it won't make any difference." Ray stated, using his PDA for some reason.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Looking to see witch base we go to next. You know, without cussing anybody else out... in front of you anyways."

"Just get us there please? I want to save them and kill Soto with my bear hands... and maybe a spoon."

"Ouch. Yeah, we have to go to the base in NYC. He's got them in the basement of a delly shop in Queens." he explained. "See, the dudes up at HQ think we should have it clean and blood-free... not gonna happen."

"Not while I'm around it's not." I grumbled. "How do we know what he's doing?"

"We have cameras everywhere Asia... _Everywhere." _

"Whoa... that's the last time I change clothes." I snickered. "Let's go before my mood sours."

*LINE*

"This is the control room." Ray said. "Here we can see what's going on anywhere in the world, at any time."

"Even The Lake of Enchantment? A thousand some years ago?" I blushed hard and gulped, "Because if so, Peaches can't see that footage! Or you! Or anybody else!"

"Okay, I won't even ask... or look at that video, god willing." he shivered again.

"...Shut up." I said lamely. I caught myself before I dissed him about anything big, or small for that matter. "Show me the damn footage already!" I just exploded. "For all we know they could be dead!"

"Shut up!" Ray exploded. "My god, pull yourself together! They're OK! Tell 'er Rachel!" He gestured to the brunette in a rolling chair across the room.

"Stop yelling at me!" I yelled. "And why is nobody staring?!"

"Shut up! They're used to this! How do you think Lenny reacted when he found out he had to be decommissioned?!"

I ran across the room to where "Rachel" was.

"Rachel, please show me the live footage, and just to warn you, I may need to hit something." I said calmly, pulling nervously at my braids. "I'm sorry we met under these kinds of- OH MY GOD!" the live footage showed Soto, a blonde sixteen or seventeen year old, holding a knife up to Peaches' neck, she was crying.

The others were all tied up around the tiny basement. Buck, Diego, and

"Shut up!" Soto yelled at her. "Hush now little one," He stroked her hair. "Your auntie Suzan is watching." He stood up, grinned and tilted his head towards the camera. Then waved.

"Shit!" Rachel pulled out a walky-talky out of her pocket. "Cover blown! Cover blown! We need to get them out of there now!"

"He knows!" Ray shouted to a boy across the room, who commanded all units to respond into _his_ walky-talky.

"What's going on?!" I finally yelled.

"Soto's gone bananas!" Ray yelled back, pressing buttons on a keyboard.

"No shit captain!" I looked back at the monitor. The guys in camouflage jumpsuits were in there. Holding guns aimed at Soto, who was holding Peaches to his chest, the coward, with the same knife back at her neck. "Crap!"

I transported myself that second. I heard Ray cursing and yelling something about me being behind him. I didn't know what he meant, but I made myself invisible on the way, just to be safe. Once I got there, I was actually worried I would be _seen._ Then I remembered I was invisible. I was behind Soto, and he still had Peaches in his grip. I was angry but I tried to stay calm, so not to distract anybody.

Quietly, I picked up a rusty pipe out of the corner... lifted it above my head... and bashed Soto in the melon! "Go to hell you undying bastard!" then I made myself visible again.

All jaws were dropped at the girl in piggy-tail braids and a pink bath robe, come to save the day! Uh, yeah... did I mention I was wearing my PJ's?

"Suzy cue!" Buck shouted.

"Is she an agent?" One kid asked.

"No, I'm Abe Lincoln- yes I'm an agent!" I rushed to see if Peaches was okay, she was. I wish I could say the same for Diego. It seems that on the way down, Soto stabbed Diego on the shoulder. The cut was deep, but not so much that he could bleed out.

"We need medics here, and we need 'm here yesterday!" Rays voice. He stormed in on a ramp they'd set up on the stairs for him. "What is is wrong with you, Suzan?!" He must not have been that mad, because he called me by my alias name.

"Hey, I killed him!" I said irritably. "I saved Peaches, too, damn it!"

"And you got Diego stabbed!" Ray rolled over to me and leaned in closer, whispering, "Really, good job though." He smiled.

"Thanks." I whispered, also smiling a little, and untying Buck. "Oh, baby are you okay?" I asked, "Are you all okay?"

"No!" Diego coughed, "Is he dead yet?!" his face was tear-stained. All of their faces were.

"I killed him." I answered in a soothing voice, despite the nature of our situation.

"Then in the mental sense, I'm okay. But I still need a hospital."

"Where's that medic?" From Ray.

"It's coming! Get him on the gurney!" Another camo-kid yelled back.

"Daddy!" Peaches ran over to the corner of the room where her parents were tied up. "Mommy!"

"Wait a second." I looked around the room. There was Manny, Ellie, Peaches, Buck, the twins (tied back-to-back), Diego (Hurt), but... "Where's Sid?"

"Lenny." Ray said under his breath.

2-25 Continued!

I went white as a sheet of printer paper, and I felt like somebody had hit me in the gut with a steel pipe. "Lenny? Cat in the hat, Lenny?" Both of us shivered.

"Yes!" A holograph popped up like a weasel in the middle of the room, a kid with a huge forehead and bulgy eyes was in the middle of it. "I thought you might try to stop me. Kill Soto. What a shame." He cackled.

"Lenard." Ray got that un-Ray face again. I was still huddled next to Buck on the ground. "Where. Is. Sid?"

"Heck if I'll tell you." he grinned again. "But I'll give you a clue. For the Lady." he was grinning my way. "Here it is."

Lenny aimed the camera, or whatever, at Sid, who was tied up in the corner, gagged with a red bandanna. He yelled, or, _tried_ to yell, but we couldn't hear him.

"Piss off, you perverted freak! I'll neuter you with a rusty spoon you sick bastard!" I yelled. Lenny flinched and gasped at my not-so-lady-like language. "Sid, hold on, we'll get you!"

"You can't kill _me_." Lenny sneered. "I still have this pretty little trinket here." He showed us what looked like a power ring.

"You evil, sick, horrible..." Ray let out an irritated grunt. "Using the necklace to make a power ring, fiend!"

"That is correct, and you'll never decommission me!" He did that gay-ass finger wiggle thing, and smiled. "Tootles." the holograph disappeared.

"Do I have to murder two people in the same day?!" I groaned.

"If you want to, ain't no one gonna come lookin' for him. He's an orphan and a sick-minded creep... Cat in the hat!" Some other kid, I think the one who asked the dumb question (I really wasn't paying too much attention) (Too focused on the guys) said to me, disarming his weapon.

"No, no, no, no, no... NO!" Ray exclaimed, "He mentioned the trinket, that probably means it's rigged!"

"Right." I answered. "Guys, you need to get to the hospital. I'm going to help Ray get Sid."

"No, no, no. I need to go with you." Buck insisted.

"No, you _need_ to take your medication." Ray quipped.

"Hey, I'm not _that_ insane anymore!" Buck shouted. "I'd make up some sappy story but right now I just want _you_ to shut up!" the room grew quiet.

"While I respect you for standing up to me, I hate you. Now go with these guys to

the hospital if you want Sid to live, k?" Ray shot back.

"Boys, stop it before I shut ya both up!" I shouted. The room erupted with people talking to one another, trying to get the guys outside, etc.

But Buck wasn't having it. "No, Suzan needs me."

"Buck, honey, the herd needs you more." I answered, then gave him a little kiss and demanded that he go with those guys to the hospital.

"Okay, okay. You win Suzy cue. I love you." Then he followed the rest out.

Once the room was clear, I said, "I love you too."

"Come on, we have to get Sid!" Ray yelled at me, gesturing to the portal he'd just made. "We have no time to-"

"What was that?" I interrupted. "What the hell do you mean, "While I respect you, I hate you"? Huh? If you don't like Buck, then deal with it!" I walked -stomped- through the portal to yet another place I was embarrassed to be wearing my pajamas in. so I used my amulet to change into some kind of, Indiana Jones meets Jack Sparrow girl outfit.

"We need to find where Lenny is, quickly."

"No shit?" I said, irritated that Ray would be stating the obvious _now_. "And why can't I just go there and hit the bastard over the head with a pipe like I did to Soto?"

"Because, he has a rigged power ring!"

"Maybe it's a trick so he has time to... uh, you know... and escape before we get there!"

"Fine, fine, _you_ risk _your _life and hit the bastard!"

"Maybe I will! Unlike _you_ I care for my herd!"

"You know what? I did not care for that movie- _any_ of them. It insists upon itself."

"What does _that_ mean?"

"It insists upon itself."

"That's because it has a valid point to make! Family, love, togetherness, trust, overcoming fears, acceptance!"

"That is no valid point."

"Is too."

"That is no valid point."

"It is." I insisted. "Why in god's name are we fighting about this? Come on! We need to get Sid!"

"Well we cannot just kill him." Ray reiterated.

"What _can_ we do?" I quipped, "Shoot the hostages?"

Then he got that Ray look. A look that I felt like I hadn't seen since his epic fail in Walmart that time. "Yes. Yes we will."

"Yup, you're crazy."

*LINE*

"Oh help me!" I called from the end of the hall, lying down with fake blood all over me. "Help! I need help!"

"Holey god!" Lenny cried, "What on god's green earth happened to you m' lady?" Lenny picked me up and carried me down the long, doctor's-office-like hall.

"I was kidnapped." I whispered like I was truly dying.

"Oh dear, we need to get you to my office!" he ran down the hall -scaring me half to death thinking he'd drop me or something- panting, and acting like he would faint. "Oh dear, oh dear."

He kicked open the door to his office, and laid me down on the therapy couch, like in old movies where the lady will look all helpless with her forearm on her forehead.

"Oh, my dear lady, I do hope you're not bothered by the prisoner in the corner there." he gestured to Sid, still bound and gagged.

"Oh my, is he...?"

"Oh no, he's just asleep." He took off his power ring and handed it to me. "Heal yourself m' lady."

I snatched the ring, put it on, and popped him one, right in the kisser! "Go to hell!" he was knocked out. I ran over to where Sid was and shook him awake, "Sid, Sid, it's me, Suzy!"

"Mmm... phm hmmhm..." Sid was still gagged.

"Oh, you poor thing." I took off the bandanna, then took the dirty sock out of his mouth. "Are you alright?"

"Suzy! Oh my god! Thank you!" he gave me a hug so tight I thought he'd literally kill me with his kindness! "Oh my god!"

"Sid... I can't... breathe!" he let me go.

By the end of the day, we were at the hospital for stab wounds and emotional distress, the I.D.C.A. base for decommissioning, and the I.D.C.A. morgue... _*Shiver* _the bump I put on that kid's head... Anyways, it was all good... in view of the circumstances.

**Author's note: I HOPE I DID OKAY!**


	5. Chapter 5

3-1

Thank god Diego was able to get out of the hospital, (and Sid was no longer freaked out) by today, or else the local level school-board officials would get antsy. Diego still has a bad ass cut, not too deep, but he says it hurts. Sid on the other hand seems like he's recovered very nicely.

I was able to do some hard thinking, seeing as it was a slow day in terms of work. I realized, quite suddenly, in study hall this morning why it is that older more mature people are sometimes bitter towards their immature peers. I thought of the fear in Sid's eyes the other day when Lenny had him tied up, how I killed a man, fighting a dinosaur, miscarrying my children... finding Sophie dead. And the biggest problems known to the immature peers' lives are sports, or who's dating who, or what to wear to school. That disgusted me. That's why people like Diego, Manny, or _Me_ for that matter, are a little grouchy at times.

*LINE*

Aside from _that_ hard thinking, after lunch, Ray had some very bad news for me.

"Hey Suzy!" Crash called.

"Ray's looking for you!" Eddie finished for him.

"Thanks dudes!" I flashed them the rock on devil horns and grinned. Crash did the same and stuck out his tongue. Eddie fisted his chest and did a peace sign, then they both ran off to class.

I looked around for Ray, who had evidently frozen time, judging by the coffee stuck in mid-air about to hit a dude in the face. I laughed at the poor guy in spite of myself.

"Suzy! Come 'ere we need to have a talk at the base!" He was invisible.

"Ray Conroy, you jump out and scare me and I'm gonna pepper spray ya again!" I said, moving about the corridor.

"I'm already in the base! In New York! Just make a portal and high-tail it!"

"OK. Jeez." I made the portal and stepped through.

"Hey," Gaylord was the first to greet me with that sad-sounding word. "I see Ray invited you."

"Yeah. What's up?" I stepped further into the base and closed the portal. "Somebody kidnap the C.E.O.? Ben?"

"No, it's... Raymon, will you tell her or shall I?"

"Man, I smell bad news." I frowned. Not scowled, not cried, frowned. Frowned genuinely, like I really did smell the inevitable bad news. "I hate that smell."

"I don't want to tell her." Ray answered. "You're good the putting the words together and they're coming out, good, thing... _You_ tell her!"

"Oh, fine." Gaylord groaned. "Come on Suzy. We'll discuss this in the break room."

We walked for what seemed like forever, but was only a few seconds, and got to the break room.

"Asia, sit down please." Ray said. I sat.

"What's all this about?" I asked, my fear growing.

"This is never easy." Ray continued.

"Am I fired?" I asked.

"No, no. I wouldn't allow it." Gaylord smiled. "Why? The stress of the job getting to ya?"

"Uh, no. The day I quit this job is the day it snows in hell."

Gaylord looked at me halfheartedly and hugged his clipboard, "We mean the, the guys they... Your friends have to leave early. They leave day after tomorrow, so take the day off tomorrow and the rest of the day today and have as much fun with them as you can. Prank with the twins, karaoke with Sid, I don't know... sulk with Manny! Something!" he was trying to make it seem okay... yeah only, it wasn't.

My heart was sinking, "I... I think I'm... oh, god. I'm gonna hurl!" I covered my mouth to keep myself from vomiting. Ray snapped his fingers, and I was in the vacant school bathroom, in a stall, ready to puke my guts out. And yes, it is a bold author who likes to tell about her puke.

Once I was "Finished" I got transported back.

"Are you done?" Gaylord got slugged, "Ouch! I meant, uh, are you okay?"

"God I need a mint," I answered, "but other than that- no wait, my friends are leaving early. And that leaves a worse taste than the barf!" then I let out a loud groan.

"Okay, go to the office and tell Angie you need to go home for the day." Gaylord told me, "Don't beat yourself up."

"Okay, I'll try." I smiled, and laughed, "Hey, who knew a comic barf scene would relieve tension?" I fisted my chest and did a peace sign, "Peace!" then I left.

Time started again and I staggered to the office to tell Angie I needed to go home. She sent me out with a note and a call to my mom, who I called right back and told her I would transport myself to save her time.

I spent the whole rest of the day in my room contemplating how to deal with the waiting for them to come back. But I guess it wasn't all bad, because I'm spending the whole day tomorrow with them.

3-3

Here it comes. The saddest entry of my journal yet, the day the crew leaves for the ice age. They actually wanted to film us at the 'train (or rather, time machine) station' when the guys left for future reference videos and documentaries for new recruits. I was against it, I didn't want a bunch of kids filming me crying after they left! But Ray instead they'd only take a small video of me giving hugs.

That aside, we took the steak-out van to the base. We could've just transported there, but we all agreed on the long way. There wasn't a whole shit ton of _room_ in the van, what with Ray's chair in the back, but we managed. The driver and Ray were in the front. In the second seat back was Buck, Sid, Peaches, Diego, and me. In the third was Manny, Ellie, Crash, and Eddie. I had the left window seat, and Buck sat right next to me, holding my hand. Sid was next to Buck, and Diego had the right window with Peaches on his lap. I was so sad, full of anxiety, and overall exhausted. I never figured on the guys having to go _back _to the ice age, hell, I never figured on them coming to the _human_ world!Anyway, it still bothered me that even though Ray had promised it would be okay, promised they didn't have to go back, they still did. That probably damaged my... something. My sense of trust, my self esteem. And it certainly damaged my sense of love for ironic humor.

"Come on, give us a smile, love." Buck said, lifting my chin so that I was looking at him. I smiled weakly, "That's my girl." he put his arm around me and kissed the top of my head._ Ah, I love it when he does that. _I sighed in my head.

"Aw, no mushy goodbyes, now. You know how Eddie can get." Crash warned.

"You know how _I _canget? You cried at their wedding, _and _at the reception!" Eddie argued, "Then you cried when Peaches requested "Last Kiss"!"

"Hey, that is a sad song!" Crash returned.

I laughed, "Wow you guys, going at it already? The audience will LOVE that."

We all laughed at each other, then a collective sigh went around. "Well it isn't forever. Right, guys?" Sid pointed out, "We've made it this far, we'll make it through some dumb apocalypse."

I smiled, gave hugs, and cried as I watched the time machine go.

**Author's note: Okay guys, since this was written ahead of time, you won't have to wait long between chapters, but still! :P anyways, I hope you've enjoyed it so far! And omg so sorry for not updating. See, I lost the flash drive ****that had the entire story on it, and I just got it mailed to me by my cousins. I literally screamed and hugged the crap out of my mom.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note: OKAY GUYS i'm on fire with the updates, so enjoyyyy!**

7-14

She's BAAACK! I have been through a shit ton since the guys left, I'll tell you what! It's been what? Five months! Of course, many of you may not have had to wait that long, because I write these a long time in advance before posting. But this is still happening in real time! There have been a million shitty days, happier days, bitter days, and days I just plain hated the world. Here are a few valid examples:

**Shitty Day: 3/9/12**

Three tests, all failed, suckish subs, lunch tasted terrible, friends being arrogant bitches.

**Happier Day: 5/3/12**

I won a hot topic T-shirt! I went out to the mall with my friends and bought a dress. A hot pink one with a white ribbon on the waist line. Got matching shoes with my long distance BFF Faith.

**Bitter day: 5/4/12**

Wore my dress to school. And had a depressing conversation with my gothic ass friend about it.

"How do you like it? Me and my friends got it yesterday." I twirled around.

"Do you want an honest answer, or a depressing answer?" Julie asked.

"Jule, hon. Is there any difference between the two?" I asked skeptically, my mood darkening just by talking to her.

"Nope." Julie answered, trying to get her hair to stay in her side-pigtails.

"Honest answer."

"I, personally, think it looks like shit. Maybe you should ask Helvetica." Helvetica is Julie's sister, twin sister. She's super perky and preppy and kind of retarded. But, hey. She's sweet. Crash and Eddie have Crushes on them. Well,_ had _crushes on them. I will give kudos to anybody who can tell me who likes who.

**Day I just plain hated the world: 3/10/12**

Lost my damn ring in the bathroom. Thank god, my aunt Beth found it the next day when she was brushing her teeth.

And I won't even mention the last day of school. What with the cat-fight, the whole damn thing with the principle and shit. Aaanyways, now we're discussing 7-14 and I'm... well I'll start at the beginning.

This afternoon I was raving about how much I loved the new Ice Age movie with my cousins in the living room of their house. We all had on dresses over our swimsuits, ready to go swimming whenever uncle Grady got done cleaning the pool. Annie said Sid cracked her up the whole time, and Cara just loved it all around.

I hadn't forgotten this was the day they came back. (How _could_ I? What with us having gone to the movies just the day before, and Ray calling to tell us -well, _me_- about how the new guys were sooo fascinated with the human world.) I was looking forward to it, and I hoped they'd get here before we started swimming. I had changed my look drastically, died my hair, cut it, new makeup, new clothes, the works. I wasn't sure if they'd even recognize me, but Buck would for certain... we _may _have cheated a _little bit _by going on the web-cam for maybe five... forty-five minutes? He said he loved it, so...

"Hey Asia!" I was snapped from my thoughts by Annie.

"Hm? Yeah, what?" I said absently, perhaps I'd dosed.

"There's a big black van outside! And this blonde kid says he's here for 'Suzy'. Do you know what that's about?" Cara finished for her sister.

"Aw, yeah!" I jumped up and rushed over to the door, "Ben!" I gave him a hug. "Bu- Barrett! Ricky! Diego! You guys!" Buck was the first to run out of the van, nearly trip over himself, and hug me.

"Oh, Suzy cue, I missed you so much!" Buck yelled, sounding like he would cry.

"Buck, I love you." I whispered in his ear. I felt the weight of a million other kids rushing over to group-hug me.

I nearly fell over. Everybody was speaking at once (I did, though, catch Buck say something like, "You cut your hair!"), I was overloaded with all these guys' smiles and hugs and happy loving body language... yes I pay attention to that... shut up Ray.

I almost started crying. I kissed Buck, long, and obvious; then gave all the rest BIG hugs and kisses on the cheeks. "Oh my god! I missed you all sooo much!" I smiled so big my face went numb for a second. "Wait," my face fell a little, "Where are Manny, and-" Ben gave me 'the look' and darted his eyes at my cousins, "I mean, Manfred and Ellen. Where are they?" I said, ashamed that I'd fucked up in front of Ben, he must have expected more from me; after all, it _was_ my third ice age year in the busyness.

"They stayed behind for some _extra relaxation _Ben gave me 'the look' again, signaling me to shut the fuck up and not act so damn suspicious. "That's why we need the minors here for a few days. I trust your aunt and uncle will be okay with this?"

"Of course. I did say we had close friends who may need to- wait, where's Emily?"

"SUZY!" Peaches was out of the van in a second, and around my legs in a nanosecond, she had sleep in her eyes, she must've been asleep on the way over. _God, she's gotten big._

"Oh!" Diego ran over to the van and started shaking a girl awake, "Jenny, Jen, we're here." he said gently. "Hey, Louie! Get up we're here." he called to the back of the van.

The girl snorted awake, "Oh, what? My name is Jenny, I was orphaned in April, and I lived in New Jersey with my loving mom and-" She looked confused, like a computer told to do too many things at one time, "God Diego, warn a girl!" Shira. She had the Jenny from the block accent, the gray streaks in her long platinum blonde hair, and the sass.

"Leave it to Diego to find a gal like her." I said under my breath, smiling warmly.

"Hey, what's going on?" Shira yawned through a smile, and scratched the back of her head. We all got a good look at her now; a tallish girl, about 5'2; her hair was still as described; Dark brown eyes; long fingernails painted silver with black crackle over it; and a smooth vanilla-strawberry complexion, not a pimple within a mile of her face. She was wearing a white shirt with an undershirt, dark bluejeans (shorts), and a long silver chain with what looked like a ring of keys at the end. Her earrings were interesting, just like in the movie she had three in one side, but evidently -when constructing her being- they gave her three in the other side, too.

"Hey," since my cousins were distracted, I decided to take this opportunity to call her by her real name, and familiarize her with my knowledge of the agency. "You must be Shira." I said in a low voice with a smile, "You aren't allowed to say anything about the agency or where you came from to anybody but me and the guys, understood?" She nodded. "Okay, good. You guys converse, I'll go tell aunt Joanie and Uncle Grady the good news."

I ran up the stairs into the living room, through the kitchen, dining room, and out the back door to where my beloved aunt and uncle were.

"Hey aunt Joanie!" I called, she was sitting on the chairs next to the pool, watching uncle Grady, I guess. "I've got a surprise!"

"Really? What is it?" Aunt Joanie smiled.

I counted on my fingers for a minute, "Eight girls and boys who need to stay over for a while." I smiled nervously.

Aunt Joanie looked at uncle Grady, who shrugged; she looked back at me, I was still smiling. "How many girls?"

"Two." I said.

"They'll be able to sleep in Cara's room with you, but if there's a little one, she can sleep with Annie. The boys can stay in the living room.

"Yay!" I jumped up and down and clapped. "Wanna come meet them, you guys?"

"Sure, why not? Grady, you wanna come see her lil' friends?"

"Nah, I'll rough up her little boyfriend later." Uncle Grady laughed at himself.

"Be prepared, Uncle Grady, soon you'll be walking me down the isle." I laughed at myself. Uncle Grady was aware of the fact that I wanted him to give me away. Fact: mom would likely _push_ me down the isle.

"Hardy har har." Uncle Grady is not amused! :D ...big newsflash ...hope ya caught that.

"Well, don't worry, you'll like him." I said, then led her into the house, towards the front. "You're going to love them, they're real polite." I chattered on and on about them all until we got to the front door.

I looked out at the confused children at the door. "Asia!" Annie called, "Your friend just took the kids' bags out of the van and told the man to go, he looked all rushed."

I looked over at a pile of luggage, accompanied by a little blonde boy (who I assumed to be Louis) who was about Peaches' age in human form.

I went over and knelt down next to her, trying to calm her down, "It's okay, BB, he's just in a hurry, he needs to get home." I stood up and introduced every body, gesturing to them as I went along, "Aunt Joanie; this is Barrett, Cranston, Diego, Edward, Emily, Jenny, Louie, and Ricky. They're all in the same adopted family, or at least, I think Manfred an Ellen just adopted Jenny and Louie? Didn't they?" I turned to Buck, who nodded.

"Oh, my, how many kids can a person have?" Aunt Joanie scoped the kids, "A lot, obviously."

"Emily isn't adopted." I blurted. "She's their only blood-kid."

"Oh, I see." She looked at the pile of bags. "Well, that luggage ain't gonna move its self. We should get y'all settled. Good thing we're grilling' tonight."

"I'm a vegetarian." Crash, Eddie, Louis, Peaches, _and _Sid all said at once.

"That's okay, we'll make some more vegetarian food, Asia don't eat meat either." Aunt Joanie shrugged it off and continued, "If y'all have your swimsuits, you can go night swimming tonight when it gets dark." she grinned, "We got these big tiki things, and torches, and big ol' light up beach balls." God, I loved night swimming.

I saw Diego tense up, and assuming Shira had no idea that Diego was afraid of the water, I decided to let it go unsaid until he had to explain himself to _her._

All the guys were up for it. I led them inside; took the boys' bags to Cara's room, and the girl's bags to Annie's smaller room; and introduced them to uncle Grady. Apparently he'd thought I was kidding about the boyfriend thing, because he was shocked to see that Buck actually exists.

"You don't smoke, now, do ya son?" Uncle Grady was interrogating him like how Hailee and mom did.

"No, sir." Buck answered calmly.

"No drinking?"

"No, sir."

"No tattoos?"

"Not unless it's your niece's name on my arm."

"Nice responses, welcome to the family." Uncle Grady shook Buck's hand and smiled at him.

"Honored." Buck smiled back.

"Now, who are the rest of these kids?" Uncle Grady looked around at all the guys and gals of the ever-growing herd.

"I'm Emily." Peaches chirped sweetly.

"I'm Cranston." Crash piped up.

"Edward, pleased to meet ya." Eddie added.

"We're twins." The two said at once.

"Name's Diego fr-" Shira elbowed him in the ribs and looked at him like, 'don't call him 'friend', do you know how disrespectful that makes you sound?' Diego straightened up right away, and said, "Sir. Nice to meet you, sir."

"I'm Jenny." Shira shook his hand vigorously, "From the block." She smiled.

"I-I'm Louie." Louis (or at least, I _assumed_ it was the little hero trapped in the cute little kid's body) stuttered.

"I'm Richard, my friends call me Ricky." Sid shook uncle Grady's hand.

Uncle Grady looked to the west. How do I know it's the west? The sun was setting over the white picket fence. "Cara, Annie, y'all help your mama get the food out, then go put on your swimsuits."

Cara and Annie squealed happily, then ran inside to get ready. No doubt, they'd have it ready in a... Oh. My. GOD! You have probably been wondering by now, and the reason my brother hasn't come to wreak havoc on us all, is because he was gone to military summer school or some shit. It was supposedly to help with his behavior or something.

*LINE*

Later, after everybody else had on their swimsuits, I went into the bathroom to get mine on. Mine is awesome, I think. It's a string bikini, and it's black and yellow with cheetah spots... I have no idea why I'm going to describe the swimsuits bu I am. Anyways, I got ready and walked out into the hallway, where I heard voices belonging to Diego and Shira.

"Come on, it'll be fun, I promise." was the first intelligible thing I heard out of Shira. "We'll be together."

"What if it isn't?" Diego answered.

I felt like some pervert eves-dropper, "Come on, softy. Be strong... for me?"

"Okay, okay, I'll swim- if only to keep up my fearless jock impression on Suzy's family." _Oh! I get it now. I am sooo sick minded. _I thought to myself after hearing Diego.

I smiled warmly, and made my way out back, for night swimming.

7-16

Two days of fun and sun. Lovin' it too much! Buck and the guys were all out enjoying my cousins' tricked-out backyard with them, and I went inside to get a Coke.

"Hey, Asia, some lil' girl left this for ya." Aunt Joanie said, handing me a small box. "I asked her if she wanted to see you, and she just insisted the package was more important, and that you needed to get it so you'd "Know what to do." whatever that means."

It was addressed to me, but there was no 'from' on the outside. So I opened the box carefully with my pocket knife, and saw tissue paper. I had a feeling I knew what was under it. I sat down at the kitchen table, and stared at the handwriting on the outside of the box for a long time. Soft, yet chicken-scratchy cursive handwriting, written in black sharpie. I brushed my fingers over the most familiar letter,_ S__. _Same as the heart-shaped rock. I knew who sent this, I just didn't have the strength, suddenly, to look at what she gave me. Slowly, I moved away the white tissue paper, and saw it. The necklace I gave her.

_My best friend is alive._

There was a note under the necklace in the box, I savored every word of it, until I became quite pissed with everybody's favorite cripple...

"Ray!" I groaned.

"Who?" I remembered aunt Joanie was right there.

"Nothing, aunt Joanie. Tell the guys I'll be right back, I have something to deal with." I started walking towards the door, box in hand, letter (addressed to me) in my clenched fist, and a pissed off as hell expression on my face.

Ray was going to get it! I swear to god, I was so pissed off at him right then I could have rung his skinny neck! I went out to the side of the house to transport myself to wherever the hell that mongrel was. Looking back on it now, I probably should have called to cuss him out first…

A meeting. Have you ever gone up and asked for somebody, and somebody else said they were in a meeting? I would have just _loved _it if somebody had told me Ray was in a meeting _before _I decided it fit to go cuss him out.

"Ray! You skinny, numb nuts, son of a baryonix!" I yelled.

"What is it _now_ Suzan? I'm busy." Ray dismissed me by turning away.

"Ray!" I yelled.

"What, Suzan?" Ray groaned, turning back around.

"You lied to me. You didn't tell me she was an agent. You made me grieve for years!" I was almost crying.

"Who in the hell are you talking about?" Ray asked, reddening. I didn't think it was from anger, but embarrassment that his partner was acting out like this. Guess who givesa shit? Not me.

"You know damn well who I mean!" I chucked the necklace and the letter at him. "Sophie is alive. How dare you put me through so much pain, so much hell? How dare you put poor Rose and Jimmy through that much hell?"

"Hey, settle down, bright eyes." One kid said. He was a short little nub, and he reminded me an awful lot of Lenny.

"Don't you tell me to calm down, sports bra!" I yelled right in his face… you probably want to know why I called him that… he was "plump", and I was mad, don't be offended by that, please?

"Whoa! Red eyes!" the kid jumped back in his chair. I realized then that I was seeing in crimson, like I did when I was a weasel. That had only happened a few times in the human world, and both times resulted in somebody getting smacked around.

"Listen, Suzan, I'm giving a presentation." Ray whined.

"How about I 'present' the academy award nominated film, _To Kick a Cripple's Ass_?" I spat.

"Listen, I'm sorry, it was a matter of security, I couldn't have told you if I _wanted_ to. And anyway, it isn't my fault. Orders are orders."

"Screw security and screw you! You made me think Sophie was dead for three years, 'sorry' doesn't even touch that!" I slammed the door of the office behind me and stormed through a portal that lead someplace interesting, my cousin Cara's room. When I distinctly remembered leaving through the side of the house.

"Weird." I said to myself. Yeah, and everything _else _has been _totally normal. _"Aw, shit! Now I gotta climb out the fucking window?" _wait, duh. _I opened a portal leading to the side of the house, where I should've ended up it the first place.

Once the coast was clear, I went through the back gate to where all the rest of the kids were playing. Ha, 'playing'. As if we were all just innocent kids. Innocent kids, like all the others we know. I stared at the beautiful scene for a long time. Diego and Shira were in the pool, romancing it up; the twins were riding ATVs with Annie and Anthony in the field; and Buck, Cara, Peaches, Louis, and Sid were jumping on the trampoline. You know, one of those huge ass ones with the nets? Big enough for six to eight people? I loved that one. On hot days we'd try to beat the heat by putting a garden hose up through the hole in the middle of it and spraying cold water all over the place while we jumped. Ah, such melancholy. Shit, I'm only thirteen and having so much on my mind just didn't fly, so my lil' brain hatched an idea... have some fun with my friends instead of worrying so damn much! What I did was... well the name of my plan _is _quite self-explanatory.

1-17

"Aw, would ya look at that?" Aunt Joanie sighed. I followed her gaze to where Annie, Peaches, and Louis were having a tea party with Annie's American Girl dolls.

"That is sweet." I answered. Oh, how I longed to be a little kid again. To be little, and carefree, and happy.

"Can you tell me a little more about these kids? They seam a little strange." Aunt Joanie asked, turning to me.

"Yeah, sure." I laid my towel down on the poolside chair and sat down, "Well, Emily is the only child who isn't adopted, she's a lot like all the other kids rolled up into one. She has a lot of their traits. Barrett is from London, his parents died at the same time of some rare disease, and he enjoys listening to me sing over tea in the afternoons. Cranston and Eddie were orphaned in Montana after their parents killed themselves. Diego was left on the front porch, as an infant child. His parents, whoever they may be, left the birth certificate with him in the carrier. Ricky was abandoned at a pediatrics's center at three years old, and Manfred and Ellen took him in. I don't know what to say about Jenny or Louie, I just met them the other day."

"I meant some things that they like, or special things about them... although that thing about Barrett was helpful." Aunt Joanie went on.

"Alright, alright, alright. Barrett is sweet, plays piano, loves excitement, but he's always watching out for me." I smiled, "Cranston and Eddie are active, inventors, really cool guys. Cranston takes unnecessary risks, and Eddie cleans up after him. Diego is hard on the outside (soft on the inside), not a hugger, wise cracking, and cares about his family. Ricky is sweet, a hugger, always tries to smile; he has a lot of health problems, like that lateral lisp, he has a week immune system, and some of his organs are in different places in his body. Jenny... I don't know, she's dating Diego? And Louie... well he's quiet."

"That sounds weird, I mean they're now in the same family." Aunt Joanie answered.

"I guess it's like Twilight." I shrugged. I took out a magazine and started reading an article about how they might ban chains in school... you see why I talk to dinosaurs for fun?! ...oh and Aunt Joanie.

"Guess who?" My eyes were covered from behind. Aunt Joanie was giggling.

"Could it be George Cloony? George Lopez? Dick Chainy?" I teased.

Now Aunt Joanie was really laughing. "Sorry to disappoint." Buck kissed the top of my head. Then he jumped into the pool, splashing us, toe to ankle.

"You remember when I told you that you couldn't settle for just anybody?" Aunt Joanie turned to me and smiled, "Well you did a good job."

I smiled back.

7-18

Today I was getting over my anger and stress a little bit, Aunt Joanie decided I looked way too stressed not to have a girls' day. With Aunt Joanie, "girls' day" means Mani-Petis, shopping, and facials. I asked if Shira and Cara could come too, and she said, "The more the merrier." Aunt Joanie always knows what to say... and what to do for that matter.

"When should we go?" I asked.

"Get your purse! I'll tell Grady he needs to look after the little girls and the boys... maybe he'll take them out on the lake and fish." Aunt Joanie answered.

I smiled, remembering how Buck used to take Sophie (or the twins) and me fishing with him whenever he'd come to the ice age to see us. "Okay, I'll get the gals." I walked outside to see that Cara and Shira were right at the trampoline, laughing and having a good time. "Hey Jenny! Cara!" I yelled at them. They looked at me, "Come inside, Aunt Joanie's taking us to town!"

"Cool!" Cara said, climbing down off the trampoline.

"Nice, what for?" Shira asked.

"Girls' day." I said, Shira looked confused. "Basically we go pamper ourselves and shop, and talk about our boyfriends and/or crushes." I looked a Cara. I just _knew _she had a crush on the boy who lived down the road from us, she just wouldn't spill. Cara blushed hard, not hiding her dreaming smile from me.

"Suppose I'm not exactly a girly-girl?" Shira answered.

I smiled, "It doesn't have to be a girly thing to get pampered. They use mud on your face to make it smooth; you can paint your nails army-style; and come on Jen, you gotta tell us about Diego." I grinned bigger and lowered my eyelids. I loved the fact that I was able to make anybody feel transparent.

Shira blushed harder than Cara, then grinned, "Yeah, I guess."

I squealed happily. "Yay! Go get your purses! We're goin' out for a night on the town!"

So you can imagine how that went, great! Only downside: Ray was blowing up my phone the whole time.

7-19

The next week you will read about was weird... effing weird. It'll all be explained in the next book... that's right! NEXT BOOK!

**Author's note: Yup. I went there. Sorry for the suspense, guys! Seeya next book. I dunno what I'll call it, but it will be out soon :)**


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